Schwarber homers twice as Phillies blank Rockies 6‑0

PHILADELPHIA (Interstat) — Kyle Schwarber homered twice, Bryce Harper added a solo shot and Cristopher Sánchez pitched seven shutout innings as the Philadelphia Phillies blanked the Colorado Rockies 6-0 on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.

Schwarber connected for a solo home run in the first inning and a two-run homer in the second, giving him five long balls over his past four games. He matched New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the major league lead with 16 home runs. It was the second four-game home run streak of Schwarber’s career.

Harper went back-to-back with Schwarber in the first inning, depositing a 1-0 pitch from Tomoyuki Sugano over the center-field wall for his 10th homer. The quick burst gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead before the Phillies scored three more in the second to take control.

Sánchez improved to 4-2, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out seven over seven innings. He retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced and threw 94 pitches in an efficient outing. The left-hander had won his previous start against on May 5, when he pitched eight shutout innings.

Brandon Marsh went 4-for-4 with four singles, raising his batting average to .353 to lead the major leagues. He scored once and also singled in the third, fifth, sixth and eighth innings.

Sugano dropped to 3-3 after lasting five innings. He gave up seven hits and five earned runs, striking out two and walking one. The right-hander was stung by the early homers and never settled into a rhythm.

The game was played before a crowd of 44,620 and lasted 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead in the first when Schwarber led off the bottom of the inning with his 15th home run, a fly ball to center field. On the very next pitch, Harper crushed a 1-0 offering over the wall in center, making it 2-0. After Adolis García lined out and Marsh singled, J.T. Realmuto flied out to end the inning.

The Phillies broke the game open in the second. Bryson Stott doubled down the right-field line and Alec Bohm drew a walk. Justin Crawford grounded out to first, moving Bohm to third, and Trea Turner followed with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Bohm for a 3-0 lead. Schwarber then hit his 16th home run, a line drive to right-center, to push the advantage to 5-0. Harper grounded out to end the inning.

Colorado managed only six hits and did not advance a runner past second base. The Rockies put two on in the third when Ezequiel Tovar lined a single to left and Jake McCarthy singled to left, but Jordan Beck lined out and Tyler Freeman and Hunter Goodman struck out to end the threat.

In the top of the seventh, Mickey Moniak singled and Tovar singled, putting runners at first and second with two outs, but McCarthy lined out to right.

The Phillies added their final run in the sixth. Marsh singled to left, moved to second on a groundout and took third on a flyout. Bohm singled to third base, scoring Marsh for a 6-0 lead.

Philadelphia’s bullpen closed the door. Zach Agnos pitched two scoreless innings for Colorado, allowing one hit and striking out one. Jhoan Duran struck out two in a perfect eighth inning for the Phillies, and Jonathan Bowlan struck out one in a perfect ninth.

The loss dropped the Rockies to 16-25. Colorado lost for the fifth time in six games and fell to 3-7 in its last 10 contests. The Rockies had won the series opener Friday afternoon 9-7 but dropped Saturday’s game 9-3 before Sunday’s shutout.

Philadelphia improved to 19-22, winning for the 10th time in 13 games since Don Mattingly replaced Rob Thomson as manager. The Phillies have taken two of three in the weekend series and will head to Boston for a three-game set beginning Tuesday.

Colorado travels to Pittsburgh for a three-game series starting Tuesday. The Rockies next return home for a six-game homestand against Arizona and Texas.

The Phillies have won five of their last six games and have posted a 7-3 record in their last 10.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Philadelphia 6, Colorado 2. Interstat’s ELO system gave Philadelphia a 73.00 percent probability to win. The Phillies were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The combined total of 6 runs went under the over/under line of 8.