Phils gain ground in NL East after Schwarber's slam caps come-from-behind win

PHILADELPHIA -- Don Mattingly was shagging fly balls in the outfield at Citizens Bank Park earlier this week, when a ballpark employee approached him from the stands and offered his opinions about the Phillies’ lineup.

He told Mattingly that he needed to drop Kyle Schwarber from leadoff to cleanup.

“He likes the traditional way,” Mattingly said before Wednesday’s 11-7 win over the Astros. “I told him, ‘Hey, that home run [Schwarber] hit the other day [in Monday’s 1-0 victory]. Do you know who would have been up [if he wasn’t hitting leadoff]?’”

Somebody else. Somebody who might not have homered.

“It was funny,” Mattingly said.

Perhaps that gameday employee watched Schwarber’s one-handed grand slam sail into the right-field stands in the sixth inning on Wednesday night. Perhaps it sparked the memory of his conversation with Mattingly a few days earlier.

Maybe he’s changed his mind.

It was Schwarber’s MLB-leading 44th homer of the season, and the 10th grand slam of his career. It was his third from the leadoff spot.

“I felt like there’s a lot of good things to take away from today,” Schwarber said.

The victory moved the Phillies within three games of the Braves in the NL East with 16 games left to play. They extended their lead over Chicago to 1 1/2 games for the No. 1 NL Wild Card spot. The No. 1 Wild Card vs. the No. 2 is important because the No. 1 would host the No. 2 in a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series with all three games at its home ballpark.

The top four hitters in Mattingly’s lineup -- Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Luis Arraez -- went a combined 6-for-18 with one double, two home runs and nine RBIs on Wednesday. Mattingly said before the game he liked the look of those four.

Don’t expect it to change.

“Sometimes you need a base hit, sometimes you need that,” Mattingly said. “You don’t know where it’s going to come. But I think the combination overall has been good. Nobody has really proved me any different.”

Schwarber is rolling. He has homered four times in the last five games. Turner might be heating up, too.

Better late than never. Turner is on pace for the worst year of his 12-year career, but a solid finish to the regular season and a strong postseason would make people forget. Turner singled, stole second and scored in a four-run third inning that tied the game. He hit an opposite-field solo home run in the fifth to cut Houston’s lead to 6-5.

Turner has five extra-base hits in his last four games, including homers in each of his last two.

Before Tuesday, he hadn’t homered since Aug. 8.

“We’ve seen the games that Trea gets going, it’s like a different dynamic with our offense because of the speed and the power, too,” Mattingly said.

Turner has been trying to hit the ball to the opposite field more. He hit the ball that way all four times he put the ball in play on Wednesday.

“I wasn't really trying to,” Turner said. “I'm just trying to hit where it's pitched, and I feel like a lot of those balls I hit today, I might have fouled off in the past. And today it feels like that swing's coming back. So I think it's a good sign.”

The Phillies scored four runs on five singles in the fourth inning. They put runners in motion. It worked. It was fun.

But fans erupted in the sixth. Astros right-hander AJ Blubaugh walked Bryan De La Cruz with the bases loaded to give the Phillies a 7-6 lead. When Schwarber stepped into the batter’s box, he got ahead 2-0, then worked the count to 3-2.

Blubaugh threw a 87.2 mph sweeper at the bottom of the zone. Schwarber flicked it into the stands at 105.7 mph.

Schwarber downplayed the moment, turning his attention to his teammates and the comeback after Cristopher Sánchez allowed four runs in the top of the third. He praised Turner for his work and determination to finish the season strong.

The Phillies have 16 games to play, and this is Mattingly’s lineup.

Get these guys going and see what happens.

“The thing that a lot of people don't see is the work, the ins and outs on a daily basis of what guys do,” Schwarber said about Turner. “To see how he's gone about this year. It’s not like he's just given up on at any point throughout the year. He’s one of the hardest workers you'll see in the game. He cares. He's trying to go about his routine. He's trying to take swings. He's taking ground balls. He's doing it.”