Phillies vs. Diamondbacks score, highlights: Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber power Philly back in front in NLCS (2024)

Phillies win 6-1

They now hold a 3-2 advantage in the best-of-seven series. Another win, and the Phillies will advance to the World Series for the second consecutive season.

Two down.

One down.

We're heading to the bottom of the ninth

The Phillies lead 6-1.

oh hey!

Slade Cecconi is in the game. That's an 80-grade name.

The Phillies' win probability is over 99%

We're saying there's a chance, Arizona.

To the ninth we go

It's 6-1 Phillies.

JT Realmuto's third HR of postseason makes it 6-1

The Phillies' lead should be safe now.

That's Realmuto's third homer of the postseason and first of this series. He now has 12 RBI in the Phillies' 11 playoff games this year.

The rare non-solo homer for the Phillies. I believe they'd hit 15 straight solo shots before Realmuto's two-run dinger.

Realmuto homers

It's 6-1 Phillies.

Gabriel Moreno is getting absolutely beaten up this postseason. Bat to the head, tackled by Bryce Harper, ball to the face

Piece of Gallen trivia

First time in his MLB career he's finished an appearance with just one strikeout, no matter the amount of innings he threw as part of said contest.

Maybe Wheeler goes back out for the eighth? Game 1 of the World Series is Oct. 27. That's the earliest Wheeler would pitch again (unless they want to use him in relief in NLCS Game 7), so he'd be on extra rest.

More on Wheeler

Corey is being generous to pitchers-as-hitters here. Their slash lines typically started with 1s across the board.

Alek Thomas, power hitter

The Diamondbacks are on the board here in Game 5. It's 4-1 Phillies after Diamondbacks outfielder Alek Thomas homers to right.

The 23-year-old Thomas hit nine homers in 402 plate appearances in the regular season. This homer marked his fourth of the playoffs in his 32nd plate appearance. He hit a home run in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series to break up a no-hitter and spur a D-backs come-from-behind victory. He hit one against the Dodgers in the NLDS. In Game 4 of this series, he hit the game-tying two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel and then he got his team on the board in Game 5.

Seven innings on 99 pitches for Wheeler. Gave the Phillies exactly what they needed.

We're heading to the eighth

It's 4-1 Phillies.

Stott with another nice defensive play

He's a Gold Glove finalist for a reason.

Diamondbacks are on the board

Alek Thomas smokes a leadoff home run off Wheeler. It's 4-1 Phils.

Have yourself anNLCS, Alek Thomas

Either way, they better not even have Kimbrel in the bullpen right now. He can relax in the clubhouse.

I wonder if Alvarado is warming in case Wheeler runs into trouble. Seems like it would be a waste to use him against 7-8-9 in the seventh, unless they're worried about his effectiveness on the third straight day and think that's the best chance to get three outs from him. Otherwise you want him against Carroll and Marte.

Alvarado is warming

Suggests we'll see him in the bottom of the seventh.

Phillies with their third steal

Diamondbacks have zero.

Wheeler strands Walker

He's through six scoreless innings on 92 pitches. Does Thomson send him out for the seventh against the 7-8-9 hitters given the state of the bullpen (i.e. taxed)? Might be able to get through the eighth and ninth with SerTony and Strahm, and not have to use Alvarado.

Harper's big blast

Bryce Harper quickly followed Kyle Schwarber's monster home run with a blast to right field of his own.

Harper had already singled, stolen a base and scored a run in this one and, remarkably, he joins Randy Arozarena as the only players to ever steal home and hit a home run in the same playoff game. It's a testament to the all-around game that Harper is rocking these days.

That shot was 444 feet and Harper's fifth homer so far this postseason. He now has 16 playoff home runs in just 47 games played (to put that in perspective, it extrapolates out to a 162-game pace of 55 homers and that's against playoff pitching).

And then Realmuto bangs into a double play to end the threat. Phillies still tack on two to double their lead.

Gallen has faced five batters the third time through the lineup and gotten one out. Phillies have two on and one out after Stott's single.

Kyle Schwarber keeps making history

Phillies leadoff man Kyle Schwarber just hit another prodigious home run.

That was 461 feet, or what we used to call in the pre-Statcast days, a "tape-measure shot." All the same, it's still a no-doubter and those are pretty common for Mr. Schwarber, especially in his playoff career.

Speaking of which, the Indiana University product has now gone deep 20 times in 63 career playoff games. He has five homers in this series alone.

• With 11 career NLCS homers, Schwarber is now the career NLCS home run leader.
• With 12 career LCS home runs, he trails Manny Ramirez for most LCS home runs ever.
• The previous record for a left-handed hitter in career playoff home runs was 18 from Reggie Jackson. Schwarber now has a multi-HR lead there.
• Schwarber joins Ramirez (29), Jose Altuve (26), Bernie Williams (22) and Derek Jeter (20) as the only players to ever go deep 20 times in playoff action.

There are many many reasons Bryce Harper is a delight to watch play baseball, but one of them is that you know a home run is gone off the bat. It sounds silly to say, and maybe it is silly, but it just looks different.