Kyle Schwarber matched a franchise record by hitting a home run for the fifth consecutive game and Zack Wheeler pitched into the eighth inning to help the visiting Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Schwarber homered against Javani Moran (0-1) in the top of the first. Schwarber has six home runs in his last five games and leads the majors with 17 home runs this season. Philadelphia shortstop Trea Turner also homered in five straight games from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2, 2023.
Schwarber, who played for the Red Sox in 2021, hit a career-best 56 homers last season.
Wheeler (2-0) was pulled with one out in the eighth. He allowed a run on six hits and struck out four.
The Red Sox had runners on first and second with one out in the ninth, but Jhoan Duran struck out Ceddanne Rafaela for the second out and Marcelo Mayer grounded out to second for the game’s final out. Duran earned his sixth save.
The victory extended Philadelphia’s winning streak to three games. The Phillies are 11-3 since Don Mattingly took over as the team’s interim manager on April 28.
Brayan Bello replaced Moran after the first and limited the Phillies to one run on four hits in 6 1/3 innings. Bello struck out five and walked one.
After Schwarber’s home run opened the scoring in the first, the Phillies doubled their lead when Bryson Stott’s RBI double drove in Brandon Marsh to make it 2-0 in the second.
Stott collected two of Philadelphia’s five hits.
Boston made it a 2-1 game in the seventh. Mickey Gasper singled, moved to second on Trevor Story’s single and scored on Rafaela’s two-out single to right field.
Boston stranded the tying run on third in the eighth, finishing 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranding six runners.
–Field Level Media
