Philly stars at their best as Schwarber, Harper belt back-to-back jacks

PHILADELPHIA -- Kyle Schwarber considered the question for a second.

Did the Phillies badly need a big inning like the third in Saturday afternoon’s 4-3 victory over the Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park? The Phils had scored in only one of the previous 31 innings they had played. They ranked 24th in the Majors, averaging 3.54 runs per game. They trailed, 2-0. Fans were grumpy, booing Taijuan Walker’s two-run first inning and the fruitless Philadelphia at-bats that followed.

But then, Schwarber and Bryce Harper hit back-to-back home runs in the third. Schwarber’s three-run homer to right field gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Harper’s homer into the Phillies' bullpen in center made it 4-2.

It felt good.

But did they “badly need” it? It’s a matter of perspective. For fans, 100 percent. The Phils needed Schwarber and Harper to go deep in consecutive at-bats, because the offense has been so painful to watch lately. But players understand and believe in the 162-game grind.

“I don’t want to qualify it like, ‘badly need’ anything, right?” Schwarber said. “The biggest thing for us is not feeling like we need to go do something. If we stay within ourselves and we feel like that, we can do what we do on a daily basis. We know that we have a really good offense, a really good defense, really good pitching. So it's taking away the want, because the want is always there.

“Everyone wants to get a hit, everyone wants to make the sick play, everyone wants to do something. But that moment you start trying to go out and you start reaching for it might just create something that shouldn't be there.”

Some Phillies might be pressing. Alec Bohm got the third inning going by reaching on an error. He hit eighth on Saturday, a reflection of his disappointing start (.157 batting average, .467 OPS) and manager Rob Thomson’s belief a drop from the cleanup spot (first 11 games) to seventh (Friday) to eighth (Saturday) might relax him.

Justin Crawford slapped a ball past third baseman Nolan Arenado for a base hit to put runners on first and second.

Trea Turner struck out swinging for the first out, then Schwarber hit a 1-0 changeup from Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt for his fourth homer of the season. Harper smashed a 1-0 fastball for his third.

Turner is batting .237 with three RBIs and a .591 OPS. Schwarber is batting .188 with four home runs, nine RBIs and an .850 OPS. Harper is batting .250 with three homers, nine RBIs and an .850 OPS.

The Phillies’ Nos. 1-3 hitters entered Saturday with a combined .730 OPS, which ranked 15th in the Majors. It shows two things: Turner, Schwarber and Harper haven’t played how they expect -- the Phillies’ Nos. 1-3 hitters ranked fifth last season with an .813 OPS -- and there are a lot of teams struggling even worse at the top, including the Cubs (.721), Yankees (.720), Tigers (.719), Reds (.595), Red Sox (.572), Mariners (.556) and Padres (.543), each of whom made the postseason in 2025.

“I wouldn’t say that there’s not a sense of frustration, because everybody wants to perform,” Schwarber said. “Everybody wants to do well. Everyone wants to win baseball games. There’s always the long-haul picture. But that doesn’t keep you in the short term from coming in and making sure you get your work in.

“I feel like that’s what this group does really well. We stay the same. We don’t try to put the pressure on ourselves or anything like that.”

Harper seems to be handling any external pressure -- has any athlete had the word “elite” attached to his name in headlines, social media posts, etc., more than him this year? -- well. He is batting .344 (11-for-32) with four doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs and a 1.197 OPS in his last nine games.

“That’s the Harper that we all know,” Walker said.

“He’s doing what he does really well,” Schwarber said. “He’s staying within himself. He’s controlling the zone, obviously. He’s getting a lot of really good contact and that’s prime him. That’s what he does.

“He’s one of the best in the game. If he keeps doing what he’s doing and he’s himself, that’s a great day for us, a great year for us, whatever it is. We want to find a way to make sure we keep getting the best out of him and he’s getting the best out of us.”

The Phillies did not score the rest of the game. But Walker settled in and the bullpen did its job. They won. It’s all that mattered on April 11.