Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs to power the Philadelphia Phillies to a 12-5 win over the New York Yankees on Friday.
The first of his homers was his 1,000th career hit, coming on a first-pitch, 92.6 mph fastball from Yankees starter Will Warren in the middle of the strike zone in the fifth inning. That tied the score at 2-2 after the Yankees took a 2-0 lead on a first-inning homer by Cody Bellinger and another HR in the second inning from Austin Wells.
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Phillies starter Taijuan Walker gave up another home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth. All three homers he allowed were solo shots with two outs. Bellinger’s came on a curveball hung in the middle of the strike zone, while Wells hit his homer on an inside cutter.
Stanton got a 92.3 mph fastball down the middle after Walker tried to work him outside the zone. That was his 435th homer of his career, adding to his lead among active players. Mike Trout is the next closest player with 396.
Defense continued to be an issue for the Yankees when Paul Goldschmidt fielded a Nick Castellanos grounder at first, then made an errant throw trying to get Trea Turner out at home in the seventh inning. The throw went wide left and high out of Wells’ reach, allowing the tying run to score. But an accurate throw probably wouldn’t have gotten Turner out either.
Goldschmidt’s error looked worse when J.T. Realmuto crushed an 88.4 mph changeup from Luke Weaver 414 feet into the left-field stands to give the Phillies a 6-3 lead.
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The Yankees cut the deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the inning when Anthony Volpe hit a hanging slider from Jordan Romano into the left-field corner. Pinch-hitter Ben Rice followed with a single, then advanced to third on a balk and Trent Grisham groundout. He was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Judge, tying Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for third-most in MLB with his 84th RBI of the season.
However, the Phillies padded their lead in the eighth on Schwarber’s second home run of the game, a two-run shot off a 95.4 Ian Hamilton fastball throw in the high-middle of the zone. With that homer, Schwarber tied the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Eugenio Suárez for second in the NL with 36. It was also his 11th in July, topping Suárez and Kyle Stowers of the Miami Marlins.
Schwarber finished 3 for 4 with four RBI, while Turner hit 4 for 5 with a triple. The Phillies (59-44) moved into a first-place tie in the NL East, pending the New York Mets’ matchup with the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
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Combined with the Toronto Blue Jays’ 6-2 win over the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees dropped to 5.5 games out of first place in the AL East. Toronto has won 18 of its past 22 games.
