Phillies vs. Padres score: Philadelphia jacks four homers, closes in on NL pennant with crazy Game 4 comeback

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the San Diego Padres 10-6 on Saturday night in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. The Phillies now hold a commanding 3-1 lead over the Padres in the best-of-seven series heading into Sunday’s Game 5. With a win, the Phillies will advance to their first World Series since 2009, where they’ll await the winner of the Houston Astros and New York Yankees American League Championship Series. (The Astros lead that series 3-0.)

The Phillies fell behind early, with the Padres jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Philadelphia answered back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame, leaving both starting pitchers on the outside looking in before the second inning even rolled around. The Phillies would then tie the game in the fourth.

The Padres retook the lead in the fifth on a Juan Soto two-run shot, his first of the postseason. Alas, it wasn’t San Diego’s night. The Phillies’ stars went on the attack once more, turning a 6-4 deficit into a 10-6 lead in a matter of three innings. Rhys Hoskins hit two home runs, Bryce Harper had a pair of RBI doubles and both Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto added solo homers for insurance runs.

The Phillies bullpen was able to make that lead stand up the rest of the way. As a result, the Phillies are now one victory away from claiming the NL pennant.

Here are six other things to know about the Phillies’ Game 4 win.

Starters falter

Phillies starting pitcher Bailey Falter got two quick outs to start the game, but that was it. He gave up a home run to Manny Machado before a single, walk and double and his day was done with the Padres already leading 3-0. It would be 4-0 before we got to the bottom of the first. A leadoff single followed by a Rhys Hoskins home run, a walk and then a Bryce Harper double meant it was 4-3 and Padres starter Mike Clevinger was done, too. Clevinger did not record an out.

This was the second time in MLB playoff history that neither starter made it out of the first. Full story here. 

Martinez, Brogdon settle things down

As opposed to the starters, Padres reliever Nick Martinez and Phillies reliever Connor Brogdon were excellent early in the game, taking things into the middle innings at 4-3 Padres. Brogdon did allow his inherited runner to score on a hit, but that would be the only hit he gave up in 2 1/3 innings. 

Martinez was better. He was outstanding, actually. He retired all nine batters he faced in three perfect innings. He struck out three and induced some weak contact. 

Padres lefty Sean Manaea, on the other hand, was victimized for five runs in 1 1/3 innings, allowing the Phillies to storm out in front during a four-run fifth inning.

Soto’s big blast

Juan Soto has been relatively quiet in these playoffs. Hell, he’s been relatively quiet since the Padres made the big splash in front of the trade deadline to acquire him. Before Game 4, Soto was hitting .231/.302/.282 in the playoffs. He had a huge double in Game 2, but that was essentially his big impact to this point. 

In the top of the fifth inning of Game 4, though, Soto came through. 

Earlier in the game, some Phillies fans could be heard chanting “overrated.” Soto hit five homers in the 2019 playoffs en route to a Nationals World Series title. This was his first homer of the 2022 playoffs. 

Phillies’ stars strike back

The Phillies were not deterred by Soto’s home run. Rather, the top of their order got to work in the bottom half of the fifth.

The rally started with Rhys Hoskins launching his second home run of the night to tie the game up at 6-6. Hoskins’ performance was just the eighth multi-homer postseason game in Phillies history, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

J.T. Realmuto would walk, then score on a Bryce Harper double to give the Phillies a new lead. Harper would then score himself on a quirky Nick Castellanos single that bounced off second base and put the Phillies up by an 8-6 margin.

The Phillies weren’t done, either. In the sixth, Kyle Schwarber hit a massive shot of his own to extend the lead to 9-6:

And then in the seventh, Realmuto popped a solo home run of his own to make it 10-6:

Add it all up and the Phillies’ top five hitters — Schwarber, Hoskins, Realmuto, Harper, and Castellanos — combined nine hits, four home runs, and nine runs batted in. 

What history says about Phillies’ chances

The Phillies are now up 3-1 in the series with their win on Saturday night. Historically, teams that go up 3-1 in best-of-seven series then go on to win the series 85 percent of the time, according to WhoWins. That would seem to bode well for the Phillies’ chances of advancing to their first World Series since 2009. Who knows, they might even cap off the series on Sunday in front of their home crowd.

Next up

We’ll do it again Sunday afternoon with Game 5. This one will be a matinee, as the first pitch is set for 2:37 p.m. ET (weather permitting).

On the mound, it’ll be a Game 1 rematch. Yu Darvish has been very good in the playoffs and allowed just two solo homers in seven innings of work against the Phillies on Tuesday. Of course, he was outdueled by Phillies ace Zack Wheeler. Wheeler only gave up one hit and one walk in seven scoreless innings. 

After what we just witnessed in Game 4, both teams will likely be hoping to get length from these starters again.