It wasn’t over when Kyle Schwarber hammered the first pitch he saw into the right field bleachers so hard the Diamondbacks outfielders never moved. It just felt that way.
The record will reflect that it took the Phillies two hours and 42 minutes to defeat Arizona 5–3 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. But the truth is everyone knew the outcome by the time Schwarber’s missile landed. This was perhaps the least close 5–3 baseball game ever played.
Hitting a home run on the first pitch you see in the #NLCS? Totally Kyle. pic.twitter.com/yGyQFXflcb
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2023
The TBS broadcast was hardly out of commercial when Schwarber connected with that Zac Gallen fastball; the score graphic in the corner of the screen had not yet had time to load. In the bullpen, reliever Matt Strahm had “barely gotten the Red Bull cracked,” he said. But catcher J.T. Realmuto was ready.
“My favorite part of every home game is the first pitch they throw [Schwarber],” he said. “You can either see that he’s right on something, or the pitcher’s scared to throw strikes to him. Either way, as it sets a good tone for our lineup.”
Three pitches after Schwarber’s dinger, first baseman Bryce Harper, who turned 31 on Monday, crushed a fastball over the wall in right center. He celebrated by holding up his fingers like birthday candles and pretending to blow them out. The 45,396 at Citizens Bank Park made such a racket that Strahm, trying to hold a conversation with reliever Jeff Hoffman, could not hear himself speak. Strahm signed with Philadelphia this offseason in part because of what he saw on television during the Phillies’ run to the World Series a year ago.
On his 31st birthday, Bryce Harper CRUSHES an #NLCS home run. pic.twitter.com/HdEHH1qvJL
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2023
“Watching it on TV last year, you think you know what it’s like,” he said. “And then you get here, and it’s not even comparable.”
Gallen wriggled out of the first inning but gave up another home run, to right fielder Nick Castellanos, in the second.
“I think they just ambushed him,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “They really got into a rhythm.”
Meanwhile, Philadelphia ace Zack Wheeler was setting down 15 straight. He has quietly become one of the most dominant pitchers in postseason history: He has allowed 0.695 walks and hits per innings pitched in his nine playoff outings, best in history among pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings.
Even when Arizona scored two in the sixth, and another in the seventh, the Phillies never seemed particularly concerned, and neither did the crowd. Manager Rob Thomson has said that an opposing coach told him last year that playing here was “four hours of hell.” On Monday, that was more like an hour of hell and a couple of hours of hanging out.
Among the dignitaries at Citizens Bank Park were Eagles center Jason Kelce and his brother, Chiefs tight end and recent Taylor Swift companion Travis Kelce. The crowd roared when they appeared on the jumbotron after the first inning, and Jason chugged a beer. He drew a similar reaction in the seventh inning, when the jumbotron showed him chugging another beer. (Through an MLB spokesperson, the Kelces declined to be interviewed; if Swift attended, she did an exceptional job of keeping her presence secret.) The organist paid tribute with Swift’s “All Too Well” after the sixth and “Blank Space” after the eighth.
Joe Rondone/The Republic /USA TODAY NETWORK
Every Phillie in the lineup reached base, and, after the game, third baseman Alec Bohm, who got on only when a Gallen fastball nicked him, promised his teammates he’d get a hit Tuesday.
The Phillies are set up well for the rest of the series: Righty Aaron Nola will start Game 2 on Tuesday, then lefty Ranger Suárez Game 3 and likely righty Taijuan Walker Game 4, with lefty Cristopher Sánchez available in long relief. (Neither starter has pitched since Sept. 30, but both threw simulated games during the layoff between series.) But the Diamondbacks did keep the score close enough to force Phillies relief ace José Alvarado and closer Craig Kimbrel into the game, and now they have some experience playing at the Bank.
“Everything is about momentum this time of year, and Arizona is really good at creating momentum and then keeping it,” said Thomson. “So that’s one of the things we need to do is get momentum, keep it, don’t let them back in the game.” The series isn’t over.
