Schwarber and Harper lead Phillies’ power display in 9-3 victory over the Padres
By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kyle Schwarber homered on Joe Musgrove’s fourth pitch and Bryce Harper also had one of the Philadelphia Phillies’ five home runs in a 9-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday night.
Musgrove (3-3) allowed a career-high four homers and didn’t get out of the fourth.
Aaron Nola (4-1) was brilliant in pitching eight innings for the second straight start. He struck out 10 for the first time this season and 31st time in his career, while holding San Diego to three runs and seven hits, with one walk. His only big mistake was allowing rookie Graham Pauley’s two-run homer in the seventh, his second.
There was a scary moment in the second when Harper and Jurickson Profar were shaken up after a tag play at first. Nola hopped off the mound, barehanded Profar’s dribbler and threw to Harper, who tagged Profar. Harper spun around from the impact and Profar fell to the ground. Harper tweaked his wrist, and he jogged around on the grass holding it against his lower back. Both players were checked by trainers and stayed in the game.
Schwarber’s shot was his 100th in a Phillies uniform and he became the second-fastest to do so, in 342 games. Ryan Howard did it in 325 games.
His seventh homer of the season went 379 feet, much shorter than his previous three home runs at Petco Park. He hit a jaw-dropping, 488-foot drive into the second deck in right field in Game 1 of the 2022 NL Championship Series, which the Phillies won in five games. Last season he hit homers of 465 and 440 feet in a series in early September.
After being staked to a 2-0 lead in the first, Nola needed just seven pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the inning.
“We have a really good offense and everybody knows that,” Nola said. “Not just average-wise; obviously, the power guys, too. I think the big thing that makes our offense hard to pitch to is they take really good at-bats. They fight to the end and that makes it tough on a pitcher.”
The Phillies took a 6-0 lead after Harper, Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos homered in the third.
Harper hit a 396-foot moonshot to right, his sixth, leading off. Marsh drove a two-run homer onto the porch atop the right field wall, with J.T. Realmuto aboard on a double. Castellanos followed with a homer to left-center that just the cleared the fence above center fielder Oscar Azocar’s outstretched glove. It was Marsh’s sixth and Castellanos’ first.
Realmuto hit a two-run homer off Tom Cosgrove in the seventh, his fourth.
Marsh also hit an RBI double in the first.
Marsh said the power surge against Musgrove came from “just being stubborn with the approach. Not coming out of it, trying to not hit the pitches that he wants us to hit and hit the pitches he doesn’t want us to hit. We just did a good job of that tonight.”
Marsh, the left fielder, robbed Jake Cronenworth of an opposite-field homer in the sixth.
Musgrove was coming off a strong seven-inning performance in a win against Toronto but was done after just 3 2/3 innings Friday night. Besides the career-high four homers, his six earned runs tied the most he’s allowed in a start at Petco Park. He joined his hometown team in a trade with Pittsburgh before the 2021 season. He threw the Padres’ first no-hitter in his second start, at Texas.
Musgrove allowed eight hits, with four strikeouts and two walks.
San Diego’s Manny Machado was activated from the paternity list and played third base for the Padres for the first time since Aug. 31. Bothered by tennis elbow, he finished the season as DH and then had surgery. He opened this season as DH.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: Rookie CF Jackson Merrill was out of the lineup a second straight game with right groin tightness.
UP NEXT
Phillies LHP Ranger Ranger Suárez (4-0, 1.36 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday night against Padres RHP Dylan Cease (3-1, 1.82).
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