PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit his 25th home run and ended the game with a 12th-inning sacrifice fly, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
The defending NL champions won three games in a row over the Padres on the heels of a three-game losing skid, including a series-opening loss to San Diego to start the second half. The Padres, who lost in the NLCS to the Phillies last fall, dropped to 44-50, including 19-27 on the road.
Philadelphia (51-42) overcame a 3-0 deficit, then wasted a 5-3 lead when pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis Jr. had a two-run single in the eighth off Gregory Soto. Juan Soto hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th against Matt Strahm, but Bryce Harper hit a two-out tying single off Josh Hader in the bottom half.
“A really good pitcher and a really good hitter, and Harp got the best of things in this round,” Phillies starter Zack Wheeler said. “It’s what you expect of your big guy.”
With automatic runner Edmundo Sosa on second base starting the 12th, Johan Rojas sacrificed against side-arming left-hander Tim Hill (1-4) and Schwarber hit a 304-foot fly to Soto in left. Sosa slid home easily ahead of Soto’s throw.
Jeff Hoffman (3-1) retired six straight batters in the 11th and 12th, stranding automatic runners both times.
“He was big for us,” Wheeler said. “It’s very hard to not let them score there, especially when a guy gets to third with one out. Really tough.”
San Diego manager Bob Melvin was ejected in the 12th by crew chief Dan Bellino after a pitch-clock violation call, Melvin’s fifth ejection this season and the 59th of his managing career.
“I thought we were going to pull out a `W' tonight. Played great defense. Put together some good at- bats, but we weren’t quite able to finish it,” Padres starter Seth Lugo said. “One thing they’re good at is not missing mistakes, and I made a couple of mistakes and paid the price for it.”
Wheeler allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts built an early lead when each hit his 11th homer, Kim connecting in the first and Bogaerts in the fourth. Trent Grisham made it 3-0 with an RBI double in the fifth.
Bryson Stott homered in the bottom half and Schwarber went deep to spark a four-run sixth. J.T. Realmuto’s two-run double chased Lugo and Drew Ellis had a bases-loaded walk off Tom Cosgrove.
“Tried to stay focused as a club, knowing today was big,” Harper said. “To be able to win the series against them ... I thought we played some great baseball. I thought we hit some balls hard in those early innings, and they made some good plays. They jumped on us, then we come back, they come back, and we get to extra innings and go back and forth.”
