Solid stretch against San Diego

 The Phillies hosted four games against the Padres, and at 48-41, were still chasing the Marlins for that second spot in the NL East. Crawling back up their way through their division, a couple of wins against San Diego would help them catch the 53-39 Marlins. 

  They didn't get off to the hottest start though, as they dropped the first game 8-3. Yu Darvish played with Phillies, striking out nine batters and giving up a single run. It was a rough game for Philly as the sky interfered, preventing an easy catch, and the pitchers gave up 11 hits. One Philly highlight (there weren't many!) was a dropped catch from Juan Soto, which gave Drew Ellis an RBI double. 

  Seeking revenge, the Phillies headed into their second game angry, and they delivered. Johan Rojas, in his first MLB game had an incredible game to solidify his worth. In his first inning, he made an incredible catch, to force one out, than threw to Drew Ellis to make the out at first. And to top things off, he caught a fly to end the first inning. He got respect from Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos coming off the field. Trea Turner stole two bases to give him 21 on the season. Kyle Schwarber hit a homer and had a clutch RBI single. Brandon Marsh batted in two runs as the Phillies fought hard to come back from 3-0. A 6-4 come-from-behind win put the Phil's at 49-42. 

  And the Phillies continued battling with a  9-4 victory. Kyle Schwarber hit a three run home run, and Johan Rojas hit three balls, batting in two runs.

  The fourth game was close. It took 12 innings to wrap it up. Bryson Stott and Kyle Schwarber each had home runs, Schwarber hitting a sacrifice fly to win the game. Zack Wheeler pitched seven K's It was a nail-biter as both teams didn't ever seem to have the advantage. J.T. Realmuto's two RBI helped the Phillies to win the game, with a final score of 7-6.

Schwarber's heroics gave Philly the win

Photo Credit: The Morganton News Herald

  The Phillies are now 51-42 and the Marlins are  53-42. The Phillies are so close to  catching up with Miami, and stealing that second spot. They're only two games behind, and will need a couple of Philly wins (and Marlins losses) to advance up the standings. 

The above photo was taken from a Morganton News Herald article. Photo was modified, and was an AP photo. Image used for commentary.