SAN DIEGO — Winning the day after your best player was placed on the 10-day injured list was never going to be easy, but the Phillies pulled it off of Sunday, with a 8-5 victory over the San Diego Padres. Everything seemed to click, with the exception of a poor start from Kyle Gibson; the bullpen looked great, the offense tallied up 13 hits and the defense was solid.
The Phillies are now 39-35 and will head back to Philadelphia to take on the Atlanta Braves at home in a three-game set.
Castellanos with a good day at DH
When Bryce Harper was diagnosed with a small tear in his right UCL in mid-May, he began using the Phillies’ DH spot full-time. Before that, former manager Joe Girardi was rotating through different hitters, including Nick Castellanos, who served as the Phillies’ DH seven times prior to Harper’s injury.
Now that Harper is out indefinitely with another injury — a fractured left thumb — that DH spot has opened up for interim manager Rob Thomson. Thomson said he’ll rotate hitters through, like Girardi did, and on Sunday, he pencilled Castellanos in at DH.
It went well. Castellanos, who entered Sunday’s game batting batting .175 for this road trip, had a four-hit game (four singles). It was his first multi-hit game since June 17, and his first four-hit game since Aug. 21, 2019. None of them were particularly hard hit, but it was a promising sign from a player who has looked lost of late.
Gibson struggles with his command, exits early
Phillies starter Kyle Gibson entered Sunday’s game having not walked or hit a batter in his previous two starts. In his start on Sunday, he walked three batters and hit two batters in just two and 2/3 innings. He allowed five earned runs over that span. Nearly half of his 61 pitches were balls (27).
Gibson’s start was his shortest as a Phillie. Three of the four hits Gibson allowed on Sunday were hit 100 mph or harder.
Phillies bullpen looking unexciting lately (which is obviously a good thing)
Entering Sunday’s game, the Phillies bullpen had only allowed one of 32 batters to reach base over their past four games. After Gibson exited the game in the third inning on Sunday, the Phillies relief corps allowed only one hit — a double from Eric Hosmer off of José Alvarado — over six and one third innings of work.
Schwarber’s torrid month of June continues
In the top of the second inning, Schwarber hit an 107.8 mph RBI double to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. In the top of the seventh inning, he one-upped himself, launching a 108.1 mph home run that traveled 403 feet to score three runs and give the Phillies a 6-5 lead. Schwarber has gotten on base in 30 straight games, and is hitting .276/.394/.644 in the month of June.
