Philadelphia Phillies veterans Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper face a dilemma entering the rubber game of a three-game set against the visiting New York Mets on Sunday.
What will they do for an encore after their performances on Saturday? They each enjoyed a first in their long careers in a 15-3 defeat of the Mets on Saturday.
Schwarber blasted a pair of home runs in the eight-run third inning — the first going 456 feet before outdoing himself with a 457-foot rocket to the same spot. Two homers, four RBIs, 913 feet.
“Yeah, that was cool,” said Schwarber, in his 12th season, of the double-homer inning. “First time I’ve done that in my career.”
For good measure, he added a 359-foot, two-run home run to cap the game’s scoring in the seventh inning. It was his fifth three-home run game in his career for Schwarber, who increased his major league-leading homer count to 28.
Harper, in his 15th season, added a new notch to his belt by hitting for the cycle for the first time. After punching a solo home run in the first, he added a double and a single in the third, leaving him a triple shy.
That came in the fifth inning, and the 33-year-old hustled after he lined the ball through the gap in left-center field.
“Got close a couple times,” Harper said. “But being able to do that, having that moment, is really cool.”
Their accomplishments made the Phillies only the second team in MLB history with teammates to record a three-homer game and a cycle in the same contest, MLB.com reported. The New York Yankees’ Lou Gehrig (four home runs) and Tony Lazzeri (cycle) did it in a 20-13 win on June 3, 1932, at old Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
The big day reset what had been a rough week for Harper, who was just 1-for-22 over his past seven games heading into Saturday.
Looking to snap out of his funk, he changed things up and opted to take batting practice before the game. He also decided to use his heavy bat, typically used for pre-game sessions, in the game itself.
“I said to [hitting coach Kevin] Long about a month ago, I was like, ‘Man, I want to swing this thing in the game,’ and I never did,” Harper said. “And I finally was like, ‘Screw it, I’m gonna do it today.'”
Right-hander Zack Wheeler (6-1, 2.01 ERA) will get the start in the finale. He is 5-5 with a 3.36 ERA in 17 career starts against New York.
The Mets, meanwhile, will be hoping for a better outing on the mound from starter David Peterson (3-5, 5.91 ERA) after Freddy Peralta faltered on Saturday, lasting just 2 2/3 innings and giving up 10 runs on 10 hits.
Peterson is 1-4 with a 5.28 ERA in 13 career appearances (12 starts) against the Phillies. The start against the Mets will be his first after three relief outings. His recent demotion to the bullpen marked the second time this season he’s been pulled from the rotation.
And the Mets need more from Peralta, brought in via offseason trade with the Milwaukee Brewers to anchor the rotation. It hasn’t worked.
“This is a guy, when you look at his track record, he’s been one of the best pitchers in the game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Peralta. “He’s going through a little bit of a rough stretch here, but if somebody is able to bounce back after bad outings, it’s a guy like Freddy. He is a competitor. He is a guy that is going to come back the next day and look for ways to get better and improve. That is what we will do.”
A right-hander, Peralta is 5-6 with a 4.83 ERA, and he will be key if the Mets are going to make a second-half run.
They sit last in the National League East and third to last in the NL. At almost the halfway point of the season, the Mets are 5 1/2 games back of the final wild card spot, with four other teams ahead of them for that last berth.
The Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals are tied for the top NL wild card.
–Field Level Media
