Schwarber, Harper supply needed spark as Phillies top D-backs

The Phillies needed a pick-me-up.

Who better to call on than their two lefty sluggers?

Entering the third inning of Saturday afternoon’s contest against Arizona, Philadelphia had scored in just one of its last 31 innings. The Phillies were already down 2-0 after the D-backs scratched across both runs in the first.

The boo birds were draped over Citizens Bank Park as it was another hole to climb out of — this time, in their 4-3 win over Arizona.

Then, for once, the Phillies caught a break.

Alec Bohm, bumped down to the No. 8 spot, opened the third by chopping a ball to D-backs shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who couldn’t pick the short hop. It went down as an E6, and it let Justin Crawford do what he does best.

With the third baseman drawn in, Crawford slapped a base hit through the left side. Once again, the bottom of the lineup was stringing baserunners together, one of the few things that has consistently worked for the Phillies’ offense early in the season.

Two batters later, Kyle Schwarber came up. And, like Crawford, he did what he does best: he parked a baseball in the right-field seats in South Philadelphia.

After nearly getting drilled by the first pitch of the at-bat, Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt left a changeup over the middle. Schwarber didn’t miss it. Just like that, it was 3-2 Phillies.

The three-run jolt got the crowd of 41,201 roaring — a rare Saturday 1 p.m. crowd, and the Phillies’ only one of the season.

With the Phillies now ahead, Bryce Harper stepped in and followed suit. Pfaadt missed badly on the first pitch of his at-bat, just as he had against Schwarber, and then left a fastball over the middle. This one landed in the Phillies’ bullpen.

Back-to-back blasts. Only the third time the power duo has done that.

Harper remains one of the hottest hitters in the game over the last week and counting. In the season’s first five games, he was 2-for-20 and heard the noise. Since homering for the first time this year in the series-finale win over Washington, he has looked locked in — slashing .344/.447/.750 with seven extra-base hits over his last nine games.

After falling into a 2-0 deficit in the first, the Phillies come flying back thanks to back-to-back home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.

Even with the four-run third, the game rang a familiar tune to Friday. In that one, the Phillies’ four-run first inning accounted for all of their offense in the series-opening loss. They struggled again to tack on much more Saturday, but beneath the surface, they were hitting the ball hard, especially the scuffling Bohm, who finished 0-for-4, but hit two balls harder than 100 mph.

Their lack of consistent production and their continued issues with runners in scoring position still leave a fair question hanging over the lineup: can they use this win as momentum and sustain some offense, or is this just another isolated burst in what has been a roller-coaster start through 14 games?

Sunday’s rubber game should say a lot.

In the backdrop of the win was Phillies starter Taijuan Walker. Rob Thomson had almost spoken Walker’s script into existence before the game.

“Get him through the first inning to start with because that’s kind of been the bugaboo for him,” Thomson said. “In Colorado [in his last start], there were a couple of pitches that got away from him and resulted in home runs, and then he settled in and pitched good. If he pitches like he did from the second inning on in Colorado, I’d be happy with it.”

Walker did not get through the first inning cleanly.

Ketel Marte led off the game with a majestic home run on just the third pitch of the afternoon. Walker then issued a four-pitch walk to Corbin Carroll, and two batters later, Adrian Del Castillo blooped in a run-scoring single.

As Thomson mentioned, the first inning has been Walker’s achilles heel, really since he arrived in Philadelphia. In his four seasons with the club, he has posted an 8.27 ERA in the first inning across 70 career starts. He has allowed 17 home runs in opening frames.

But Walker settled in. He turned in five innings of four-hit, two-run ball with six strikeouts against Arizona. Since the start of last year, Walker has posted a 3.07 ERA after the first inning, allowing 16 homers across 114 1/3 innings. A completely different pitcher.

Outings like this are the kind the Phillies would gladly take. But they may not need to keep turning to Walker much longer.

Zack Wheeler is working his way back from thoracic outlet surgery and could make two more minor league starts before returning near the end of the month.

Walker, in the final year of his contract, would then shift back into a depth role and likely become the club’s long reliever. He was fairly strong in that job last season, posting a 3.15 ERA in 13 relief outings after the Phillies added Walker Buehler to the rotation.

Depth is a nice thing to have, especially given the uncertainty of the pitching the Phillies have at the upper levels of the minor leagues.

And consistency is what they’ll keep looking for on both sides of the ball.