PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper circled the bases, nice and slowly for a change.
It had been a minute — 51 days, 41 games, 166 plate appearances ... but hey, who was counting? — since his last uninterrupted lap. So, as he stepped on home plate in the fourth inning Saturday night and slapped hands with on-deck batter Alec Bohm, the face of the Phillies conceded a smile.
Mostly, Harper looked relieved.
Let it be said that leadoff-hitting slugger Kyle Schwarber powered the Phillies to a doubleheader sweep of the underachieving Padres by homering in both games — 6-4 and 9-4 victories — on a long, sweltering day and night at jam-packed Citizens Bank Park.
Make a note, too, of what July 15, 2023, will forever mean to Johan Rojas. One day after getting called up from Double-A, he made a dazzling play in center field in his major league debut, then got his first hit (three, actually) and RBI in his second game.
The Phillies snapped a three-game losing spell by kicking into gear an offense that returned a little late from the All-Star break. After getting one hit with a runner in scoring position through the first 14 innings back, they came up with nine in the last 11 innings.
And as their star-laden, $250 million-payroll twin from San Diego kept slogging along at 44-49, the 50-42 Phillies stayed squarely in the chase for a wild-card spot with summer in full swing and the Aug. 1 trade deadline looming.
But Harper is always at the center of it all. And so it was again.
After being given a rare breather for most of the first game, Harper pinch-hit in the eighth inning with the Phillies trailing by one run and 43,712 paying customers standing and chanting “M-V-P!” The Padres must’ve wondered if it was October in South Philly again.
Harper didn’t reprise his pennant-clinching homer. Instead, he beat out an infield single, enabling Bryson Stott to score after dashing from first-to-third on the preceding hit. Up stepped Schwarber, who lined a single through the middle against funky lefty Tim Hill to drive in the go-ahead run in a rousing comeback.
“Big hustle play by Harper,” Schwarber said. “Big hustle play by Stott going first to third. Great at-bats, all around.”
But Harper’s biggest swing came by night. Facing Padres lefty Ryan Weathers, he laid off a 95 mph fastball in the dirt, then launched a change-up into the Phillies’ bullpen, where closer Craig Kimbrel caught it barehanded.
If not for Rojas, Kimbrel’s grab might’ve been the Phillies’ best of the day. It still wouldn’t have upstaged the importance of Harper breaking a career-long homerless drought.
It’s not that anybody doubted Harper, 14th on the active list with 289 homers, would go deep again. But if he’s able to regain his power stroke — especially as he closes in on playing first base, likely early in the week — it would make a bigger difference than any hitter the Phillies could acquire at the deadline.
After Harper’s homer tied the nightcap, the Padres pulled ahead against Taijuan Walker, who lacked his usual command and labored for five innings.
But Schwarber, who tied the first game with a homer, smashed a three-run shot after Garrett Stubbs reached on a bunt single and Rojas chopped a broken-bat single over second base for his milestone first hit.
“It’s no secret that we have a great team and amazing players,” said starter Ranger Suárez, who allowed three runs in six innings in the first game. “What we try to do is keep the game close until they explode, until the bats blow up.”
Schwarber hoisted his team-leading total to 25 homers. Harper would have to go on a power surge to reach that number.
But the Phillies will hope that flipping the switch after 41 games is a good starting point.
Trea’s day
Trea Turner’s day began with a mental error at shortstop. It ended with him picking up four hits and reaching base six times.
With two out in the second inning of the opener, Turner charged Matthew Batten’s slow roller. The play was at first base, but rather than throwing to first, Turner flipped it behind his back to get a force at second.
Everyone was safe, and one batter later, Trent Grisham smashed a three-run homer against Suárez.
“I don’t think he had a play [at first], in my mind,” Thomson said.
But Turner disagreed. In a radio interview between games of the doubleheader, he said he didn’t realize he had as much time to get Batten at first base. If he could do it over, he said he would.
“When I caught the ball, I kind of saw Gary [Sanchez] still in front of me, so I figured I had some more time at second than at first,” said Turner, who finished with two hits and a walk. “I didn’t really want to flip it behind my back, but I feel like that was my only way to get it to Sosa.
“If I had it back, watching the replay, I think I had a little bit more time at first. But that’s baseball. You have to make those decisions split-second and live with it.”
Firsts for Rojas
Rojas’ center-field defense lived up to the type in the first inning of his major league debut, with a leaping catch against the right-center field scoreboard and an on-the-fly throw to first base to double off a runner.
In the nightcap, he impressed with his bat.
After collecting his first hit in the fifth inning, he bunted for an RBI single in the sixth inning and drove in a run with a fly-ball single to center field in the seventh.
Sosa injured
Infielder Edmundo Sosa got hit on the hand by a pitch in the seventh inning. Sosa initially stayed in the game but doubled over after reaching third base and was replaced.
Details on the injury weren’t available during the game.
