Kyle Schwarber hits a home run against the Dodgers

Philadelphia – Kyle Schwarber imagined moments like this many times as a boy in his backyard.

Tie game, two games, ninth inning…

“You’re not going up there trying to get your goal,” Schwarber said after Friday night’s 5-4 win over the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. “But it’s definitely a cool thing when it happens because it takes you back to when you were a kid. When you’re rolling the bases in front of a packed, packed stadium, that’s what you live for. It’s really cool.”

Schwarber hit a shutout home run to right field with two outs in the ninth inning against Dodgers left-hander Caleb Ferguson, sending the Phillies to a season-high six straight win. Schwarber is hitting . 267 (8-for-30) with one double, one triple, four home runs, eight RBIs and 1.172 OPS in eight games this month. It was Homer’s fourth outing of his career, and his first since April 2021.

Schwarber had another backyard moment earlier in the day. He took early batting practice against teammate Cody Clemens’ father, Roger Clemens, who threw Schwarber and Nick Castellanos’ son, Liam.

“To be able to say you beat BP off Roger Clemens,” Schwarber said. I told Cody, “He needs to get ready for tomorrow.” Better make sure it’s such a thing tonight. It’s the missile, right? I got Andy Pettitt before spring training when I was with Team USA [for the World Baseball Classic]. These are great things to do. These are greats at the game.”

Schwarber twice slammed against Clemens, and delivered some nice trash talk after the first one. why not? The Rocket is the Rocket, even if he hasn’t thrown a pitch in the big leagues since 2007.

But the Rocket still competed, so he couldn’t let Schwarber get away with it. He made Schwarber fall to his knee after taking a swing and missing at the splitter.

“That makes it go real fast,” Clemens said with a smile.

“If you can do that, have some fun, a little competition, a little nice talk, but it’s also respectful at the end of the day to say thank you, too,” Schwarber said. “It was so cool.”

Schwarber walked in the first inning against the Dodgers and tripled in the third, ripping a ball off the corner wall at left center field. The ball was kicked towards midfield, giving Schwarber an opportunity to run.

“I thought I would be like JT [Realmuto],” Schwarber said, referring to Realmuto’s inside-the-park run in Game 4 of the 2022 NLDS. “I hit it, I saw it bump and I said, ‘Oh, here we go.’” [Third base coach] dusty [Wathan] He gave me a “down” sign, and I started to really panic. Yes, that’s what I had in mind. Fortunately, we got there safely.”

Schwarber scored Bryce Harper’s single goal to tie the game at 1-1. He walked and scored in a three-run fifth inning giving the Phillies a 4-1 lead.

Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez had another great start, allowing just one run in six innings. He has a 1.83 ERA in his past three starts. The Dodgers tied Game 7 with back-to-back home runs of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, but Phillies left fielder Jose Alvarado and Gregory Soto pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, making Schwarber’s final blast.

“I like the quality of the racquets you put in,” Schwarber said. “If it’s about walking or getting a good touch, the result is the result. Obviously we want success and things like that. Heck, anybody’s going to get 70 mph versus 110 mph, but that’s when you’re just trying to get back into Bat quality.”

He had a bit in the afternoon against Clemens. He had a few on the night against the Dodgers.

Clemens best ice up arm.