Kyle Schwarber earned MVP honors for hitting three homers in the swing-off at the All-Star Game.
In the first week since the All-Star break, Schwarber is still rolling, and the slugger will attempt to continue his power surge Saturday afternoon when the Philadelphia Phillies visit the New York Yankees.
Schwarber hit a pair of two-run homers Friday night as Philadelphia opened the three-game series with an 12-5 victory. Schwarber notched his 35th and 36th homers by hitting a tying shot in the fifth off New York rookie Will Warren and a drive off Ian Hamilton in the eighth.
Schwarber finished with his second multi-homer game of the year, and he has six homers in seven games since the break.
It was also his fourth three-hit game this season. Schwarber is 10-for-29 (.345) since the break and reached 1,000 career hits with his first homer of the Friday game.
“I don’t know where we’d be without him,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said. “Comes up with big hit after big hit after big hit. It’s just — it’s amazing.”
The Phillies also got a tiebreaking three-run homer from J.T. Realmuto in the seventh inning. The catcher is batting .388 (26-for-67) in his past 16 games.
The Yankees are 3-6 in their past nine games since Cody Bellinger hit three homers in an 11-0 rout of the Chicago Cubs on July 11. New York committed two more errors on Friday, giving the team nine in the past four games.
Paul Goldschmidt committed a throwing error at first base two pitches before Luke Weaver allowed Realmuto’s homer.
Bellinger, Austin Wells, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe homered, but the Yankees saw their bullpen allow 10 runs in four innings. The New York pitching staff owns a major-league-worst 6.20 ERA in July.
“The easy thing is to just play better,” Goldschmidt said. “Mistakes like I made tonight. Other mistakes we’ve made, we’ve got to cut those down. Those are conversations that we’re having and trying to do, but we’ve made a few too many mistakes.”
The Yankees hope to improve their defense when Ryan McMahon debuts at third base after being acquired from the Colorado Rockies.
Ranger Suarez (7-4, 2.66 ERA), who is 0-2 with a 5.62 ERA in his past three starts, will start for the Phillies on Saturday. Suarez allowed three runs or fewer in 12 consecutive starts before giving up six runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings during an 8-2 home loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Suarez is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two career appearances against the Yankees, both in relief in 2021.
Schwarber is 3-for-14 (.214) off New York’s scheduled Saturday starter, Marcus Stroman (2-1, 5.64). Stroman is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts since returning from a two-month absence caused by left knee inflammation.
Stroman produced his best outing of the year when he allowed one run on five hits in a season-high six innings during a 4-2 win at Atlanta on Sunday. He threw a season-high 95 pitches.
Stroman is 6-4 with a 2.26 ERA in 13 appearances (11 starts) against Philadelphia, having limited the Phillies to two runs or fewer 11 times.
–Field Level Media
