Nine strikeouts, one run, and the league lead in homers
Forty-one. That is where Kyle Schwarber sits after Friday night in Philadelphia, and nobody else in the majors is close. His latest shot helped the Phillies past Atlanta 4-2.
Zack Wheeler set the terms. Six innings, three hits, one run, nine punchouts. The right-hander is 12-5 now. Three weeks from the end of the regular season, Philadelphia needed exactly this from their ace and got it.
Schwarber had two hits on the night. So did Bryce Harper, Derek Hill and Luis Arraez. The offense never really broke the game open. It did not have to.
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Nine wins in eleven, then five hits
Atlanta arrived at Citizens Bank Park in form. They had taken nine of their previous 11. They managed five hits.
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Austin Riley each got hold of one for solo shots. That was the entire Braves output against Wheeler. Martin Perez cracked first on the other side: seven hits and four runs in three and two-thirds, his ninth defeat of the season.
The four-game set is level at one apiece.
Four back, two head-to-heads left this week
Atlanta still lead the National League East by four over Philadelphia. Games like this one are how that gap closes, and the Phillies have two more cracks at it before the series ends.
Schwarber reaching 41 in early September puts him in range of a number he has only touched a few times. He gets there the same way he always has, with big swings and the strikeouts attached to them. Philadelphia will take that trade every day.
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