PHILADELPHIA – Padres first baseman Gavin Sheets’ 2-out, 2-run homer sailed into the right-field seats in the third inning and it was natural to make a quick assumption.
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Conditioned by recent results, a crowd of 38,763 at Citizens Bank Park was prone to ask “Can the Phillies come back from that?” on the night of June 2.
The Phillies had not scored more than four runs in any of their previous 11 games as they opened a 3-game series against San Diego. In five of them, they’d scored two runs or fewer.
That they’d still managed to win four of six games at San Diego and in Los Angeles against the Dodgers last week was a credit to the Phillies’ outstanding pitching and just enough timely hitting.
And it worked again in a 3-2 win over the Padres this time.
“I don’t think over the course of the season it’s super sustainable,” Bryce Harper, the offensive hero on this night, said of the one-run win. “I’d say we’ve done a good job of late. The starting pitching’s been lights out and our bullpen has been very good.
“Obviously, as an offense, we want to score more runs and need to score more runs.”
The Phillies entered the opener of the 6-game homestand tied for last in the National League with the Mets in on-base percentage (.292), 14th in batting (.224 and ahead of only the Padres) and 13th in OPS (.673).
Those are not the ingredients of a fifth straight postseason appearance.
Only three of their hitters entered the game with an OPS above .650 – Kyle Schwarber (.940), Harper (.868) and Brandon Marsh (.821).
Trea Turner, the National League batting champ in 2025 with a .304 average, arrived sporting a not-so-lusty .223 batting average.
The Phillies’ starting lineup’s third best batting average actually belonged to rarely used catcher Garrett Stubbs and it was .235.
As it turned out, Sheets’ homer would be the only blemish on Phillies’ starter Aaron Nola’s 5-inning pitching line, in which he gave up four hits, struck out eight and walked zero.
“Aaron kind of set the tone,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.
Jose Alvarado, Orion Kerkering, who did pitch out of a two-on, one-out jam, Brad Keller and Jhoan Duran followed with one shutout inning each. Duran picked up his 13th save striking out the side after watching second Padres hitter Xander Bogaerts hit a could-be home run that sailed just left of the left-field foul pole.
And in keeping with recent habit, the Phillies mustered just enough offense to prevail, though their nine hits were their most in a nine-inning game since May 10.
For that, they can primarily thank Harper and Marsh, whose .332 batting average through 60 games is the highest by a Phillie in 27 years.
Harper answered Sheets’ blast with one of his own in the bottom of the third, scoring Turner, who’d singled. Harper then walked, zipped to third on Marsh’s third of four singles on the night and scored to inch the Phillies ahead 3-2 when Alec Bohm bounced into a double play in the sixth.
Bohm did later provide the night’s key defensive gem with two outs and Fernando Tatis on first base in the eighth inning. Miguel Andujar hit a bouncer to third that Bohm charged, gloved and motioned a throw to first, knowing he wouldn’t get the out. But Tatis, unwisely, rounded second, where Bohm then threw to start a rundown that would retire the duped Tatis with the third out.
“I thought Harp’s homer was huge to get us back to tied,” Mattingly said. “A lot of good stuff. Bohmer’s play there, head’s up. And then basically putting the ball in play got us the lead run.
“So a lot of good things. Marsh was good. I thought Adolis [Garcia, who had a hit] was better tonight. Good swings, lines out the center. So there's some good signs there, too.”
On this night it was enough, but just barely -- again.
Contact Kevin Tresolini at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Phillies get just enough to nip Padres again but offense must improve