May 11, 2025
After a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays which incited plenty of optimism, the Phillies completed their road swing over the weekend with a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians.
Aaron Nola struggled with a silent offense behind him in a 6-0 loss on Friday night, but Ranger Suárez righted the ship for his team and himself, dominating in a 7-1 win on Saturday evening with a late offensive rally inspiring confidence.
The Phillies sent Zack Wheeler to the mound on Sunday Night Baseball looking to earn another series victory, and their ace was absolutely outstanding. He gave up a pair of hits in the first inning, but got out of the jam with a picture-perfect double play ball. Wheeler did not find himself in any trouble until the sixth inning, when he worked around a double and walk with one out by retiring superstar José Ramirez and old friend Carlos Santana.
In all, Wheeler allowed just three hits over seven scoreless innings of work. Kyle Schwarber was on a personal mission to win the series finale, and two of the best players in recent franchise history ended up carrying the Phillies to a 3-0 victory, securing another series win.
Here is what else stood out from this three-game set in Cleveland — from signs of a Suárez resurgence to Nola crashing down after a strong run of his own, and a special hitter in the midst of a special season:
Schwarber has not just been the epitome of excellence in 2025, but also the ultimate embodiment of consistency. His career-best on-base streak dating back to last September has perfectly represented the reliability of a player who does not just come through with clutch home runs but also brings a sound approach with him to the plate each and every time he comes up.
And when Schwarber stepped to the plate for the first time in Sunday's series finale, he led off the top of the second inning with a no-doubt-about-it blast to right field:
Just listen to that sound pic.twitter.com/UZpF86UKa4
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 11, 2025
With Wheeler in cruise control but the Phillies still only leading 1-0, Schwarber came up to bat with two outs and a runner on base in the eighth inning, facing strong Guardians left-hander Tim Herrin. He sent another baseball into orbit:
THIS GUY IS UNREAL#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/QH3T7cbpj7
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 12, 2025
Schwarber's first shot put him in sole possession of the National League lead in home runs, and his second one tied him with Aaron Judge for the lead among all hitters in the majors. In the process, Schwarber extended his on-base streak to a remarkable 45 games. It is the longest active streak in the majors by more than 10 games, and it has him a dozen games away from breaking Mike Schmidt's franchise record in Phillies history (56).
Most importantly, Schwarber's two swings were the difference in the game — all Wheeler needed to secure a win.
Schwarber, 32, just keeps on getting better. It is almost impossible to understate how much he has meant to this team since he signed a four-year, $79 million contract before the 2022 season — in the field and in the clubhouse. And with every titanic moonshot that comes off Schwarber's bat, the potential price to retain his services beyond this season goes up.
Suárez made his 2025 season debut last Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and after two sharp innings the whole thing unraveled for the left-hander. He lost his command and left too many pitches over the plate. Some suspect defense did not help his cause, but Suárez’s first outing of the year was a clear disappointment.
So, Saturday night was hugely encouraging for Suárez and the Phillies. He was relentlessly effective and efficient, tossing seven scoreless innings while only allowing three hits and one walk. Suárez worked quick inning after quick inning, only needing 82 pitches to get through those seven frames before Bryce Harper’s two-run homer ignited an offensive surge from the Phillies, putting the game out of reach and allowing manager Rob Thomson to hand the ball to his lower-leverage arms for the final two innings.
Suárez did not have much margin for error, either, as the Phillies led 1-0 for much of his time on the mound. Once he stranded a runner in scoring position to end the seventh inning, the Phillies exploded for six runs in the top of the eighth thanks to a much-needed sign of power from Harper and run-scoring hits from Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh and Edmundo Sosa.
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After having what was admittedly the worst start to a season in Nola's lengthy Phillies career, the veteran right-hander bounced back with a pair of stellar starts against excellent offenses, allowing seven hits and one earned run across 13.0 innings of work against the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks while improving his command and generating more swings and misses.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, Nola was much less sharp on Friday night, giving up four Guardians runs across five shaky innings of work. As has been the case a maddening number of times, Nola looked like he was cruising and then in the blink of an eye was in trouble and got burned by the long ball. Nola gave up a pair of homers at Progressive Field: one was to lefty masher Kyle Manzardo, but the other was to nine-hole hitter Angel Martínez, who was slugging .388 on the season entering the series.
Martínez's homer was the eighth allowed by Nola this season. After Friday's play came to a close, only six major-league pitchers had allowed more homers in 2025. Nola is not the only Phillies starter to have trouble keeping the ball in the yard on occasion, but it is a longstanding issue for him.
Nola will be back on the mound on Wednesday afternoon against a St. Louis Cardinals lineup which he held to two runs over five innings on the road last month.
Up next: The Phillies will return home for a six-game homestand, beginning with a three-game set against the Cardinals which kicks off on Monday evening.
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