The Phillies are clicking under Don Mattingly, with Kyle Schwarber leading the doubleheader sweep with a monster day.
The best medicine for what the Philadelphia Phillies have been going through is exactly what they did on Thursday night and will hope to ride that out further. The Phillies swept the San Francisco Giants in a split doubleheader with walk-off wins in both victories, while trailing in the ninth or later in each contest. That made them the first team to accomplish that feat since the Pittsburgh Pirates did so against the Chicago Cubs in 2004, who were also the last team to walk off both games in a double header.
The first win in Game 1 came off a walk-off infield single by rookie Justin Crawford, and they pulled off the 6-5 win on Thursday night in 10 innings. Kyle Schwarber hit a dying double in the ninth with two outs, and Alec Bohm delivers walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th to cap off the sweep. Chase Shugart had both victories, becoming the first pitcher to do so in a doubleheader since Brian Duensing in 2013.
Schwarber was electric in the doubleheader, notching a homer in the first inning of both games while going 5-for-6 with three runs, three RBIs, and three walks. His opening homers to start both games in one day made him the first Phillies player to pull that off since Von Hayes in 1985, and the first to hit a homer in the first inning of both doubleheaders since Ron Northey in 1943.
To read more about the major outing for Schwarber, here is the full story from Phillies Roundtable writer Tommy Wild.
It’s been a strong start for interim manager Don Mattingly, who stepped up in place of Rob Thomson when he was fired on Tuesday. Philadelphia has won three straight under Mattingly to improve to 12-19. They still have a lot of ground to make up for after a rough start to the season campaign, but the club will hope that the momentum jolt from the doubleheader sweep will be the start of a turnaround.