Schwarbinator’s Judgment Day: Phillies 12 Yankees 5

Taijuan pitched ok and the offense came alive.

The Phillies and Yankees entered into similar places Friday at Yankees Stadium. Both teams are fighting for the division, although the Blue Jays have a much stronger lead than the Mets do, and both are figuring out what they want to do at the trade deadline.

The Yankees began their quest for reinforcements by trading for Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon. There will probably be more to come over the next few days.

Taijuan Walker is coming off a four-inning stinker against the Los Angeles Angles where he was a victim of the long ball. After getting two quick outs, including a very questionable strike-three call to Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger took a first-pitch curveball to the short porch for a quick lead.

The second inning was also efficient for Walker but once again ran into a short porch issue. After trainers checked on Walker’s right hip, Austin Wells ripped a hanging cutter to double the Bronx Bombers’ lead.

The Phillies offense against Yankees starting pitcher Will Warren struggled to take advantage of opportunities. The Phillies had five base runners through the first three innings but never capitalized.

In the second inning specifically, Brandon Marsh hit a one out single to right field followed by Max Kepler hitting a tapper right back to Warren. Warren overthrew shortstop Anthony Volpe which put runners on first and second. After that, Otto Kemp and Bryson Stott struck out.

They could not break Warren until the fifth. Trea Turner lead off the inning by slapping a four-seam fastball to right field. On the next pitch, Kyle Schwarber launched a four-seam fastball out to right field to tie the game.

Since Will Warren looks a lot like young Robert Patrick, I think it’s safe to say it was Schwarbinator’s judgment day.

In the bottom of the sixth, Rob Thomson made a curious decision to let Walker face Judge, Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton for a third time. He got Judge and Bellinger for quick outs but Stanton crushed a fastball and the Yankees took the lead again.

In the seventh, Tim Hill quickly gave up back-to-back singles to Turner and Schwarber before getting Bryce Harper to hit a grounder to first. Aaron Boone then went to right-hander Luke Weaver to try and get Nick Castellanos to strike out.

After laying off back-to-back changeups, Castellanos tapped a fastball right to Paul Goldschmidt and his throw home sailed over Wells’ head.

With two runners on, in a tie game, JT Realmuto made sure it wasn’t Weaver’s night.

The game didn’t feel over yet when Thomson went to Jordan Romano to try and hold the three-run lead in the seventh. Anthony Volpe took a hanging slider out to left field for a leadoff homer, Ben Rice blooped a single in front of Max Kepler, and Romano balked him over.

Trent Grisham hit a grounder to first base that moved Rice over and Judge hit a flyball to make it a one-run game.

If the Phillies felt like they needed more offense to put the game to bed, they got it in the final two innings. After a Turner walk in the eighth, the Schwarbinator struck again with a two-run bomb to make it 8-5.

In the ninth, the Phillies struck four runs against Scott Effross, who at one point decided it was a good idea to intentionally walk Max Kepler. The Phillies were then able to send Daniel Robert out to end the night without a problem.

The Phillies are back at 1:05 pm tomorrow with Ranger Suárez taking on Marcus Stroman, who has a 5.64 ERA in seven starts this season.