Phillies don’t want to stop after epic ninth-inning comeback extends winning streak to 9

PHILADELPHIA — He had started his Sunday with some stomach distress, played through it only to hit a baseball directly into his right foot, and now Bryson Stott was soaking wet after a plunge into the cold tub. He was on the trainer’s table during one of the greatest ninth-inning comebacks in Philadelphia Phillies history when he proclaimed to anyone who would listen.

“Walk-off homer,” Stott said, “and I’m out there.”

It had been 1,171 days since the Phillies hit a walk-off home run. It should not have happened Sunday afternoon because the Phillies trailed by four runs after sleepwalking through the first eight innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, a six-hour flight across the country awaited them, and a long winning streak absolved them for one uninspired effort.

It took 18 minutes for the Phillies to create a lasting moment for this incredulous season. It was Phillies 6, Cardinals 4, and how can any reasonable person explain this? The team that ranked dead last in on-base percentage when August began strung together five two-strike hits and a walk to score six runs with two outs in the ninth inning to capture its ninth straight win. The team that looked old and tired 11 days ago when it departed St. Louis on Aug. 12 has rewritten everything.

The whole thing is invigorating. “I’m ready to keep playing,” said Brandon Marsh, who was still wearing his cleats 40 minutes after Kyle Schwarber launched a baseball over the batter’s eye in center field at Citizens Bank Park. The ailing Stott was watching it on TV when he saw Schwarber admire his blast from the batter’s box.

He knew.

KYLE SCHWARBER WALK-OFF HOMER!

6 RUNS IN THE 9TH
9 STRAIGHT WINS
THE @PHILLIES!!! pic.twitter.com/PNwVEQveCN

— MLB (@MLB) August 23, 2026

Schwarber flipped his bat higher than he’s ever flipped it. He even chucked his helmet to the sky, and he almost felt ashamed about it afterward. He wanted to make it clear he was not disrespecting the Cardinals.

“It was just more, just, shock,” Schwarber said. “Disbelief. I didn’t know what to do there.”

Schwarber rounded the bases in 26 seconds, which was not enough time for Stott. But he had to uphold his promise. “I hobbled,” Stott said. And, sure enough, as the mosh pit gravitated toward the dugout, there was Stott in his wet T-shirt and shorts. He was wearing shower slides. He had to be there.

All of them had a high that they had not felt in forever. When the game was tied, and those who remained in the blue seats could feel this afternoon tipping toward the home team, St. Louis’ pitching coach, Dusty Blake, attempted to pause the disaster with a mound visit.

Schwarber, in the batter’s box, turned around. He smiled and laughed at Trea Turner, who was on deck.

“How the f— did we do this?” Schwarber said to him.

And that was before he took a mighty swing.

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It’s a better story if Turner had heard what Schwarber said. He did not. Turner was convinced the Cardinals would pitch around Schwarber so they could face him. He was locked into thinking about that.

“I actually didn’t see him say that to me,” Turner said. “But I had the same feeling. It was crazy.”

So much of this season has been defined by the 10-game losing streak in April that cost manager Rob Thomson his job and dug a hole that has required a months-long climb. Now, here are the Phillies (73-58) with 31 games to play, and they can win the National League East. They could possibly host a Wild Card Series at home even if they do not run down the Atlanta Braves, whom they now trail in the division by 2 1/2 games. At the very least, they will probably have another crack at October baseball.

Most of that was unimaginable in May or June, let alone two weeks ago. Asked about the current streak, Turner thought about the April losing streak.

“Some of it’s skill and players, some of it’s a little bit of luck,” Turner said. “Sometimes you have to have things go your way. I know we put on some good at-bats, but we could have hit any one of those balls right at people. That’s kind of what we were saying at the beginning of the season. We needed some things to bounce our way here and there. It’s like, that’s an example of it. When you’re complaining about it one way, you need to accept it the other way.”

He wasn’t trying to downplay what is happening here now. Turner is just a realist.

“I think the at-bats were great, don’t get me wrong,” Turner said. “When the vibes are good, and you’re playing good ball, things start bouncing your way. Anything can happen.”

They are going to lose a game again at some point. They have bigger quests ahead. But so much is unwritten. This nine-game winning streak can become more important than the 10-game losing streak that soured things.

The Phillies had a .303 on-base percentage entering August. They have a .370 clip this month, a number that defies logic. As of now, it is the club’s best on-base percentage in a month since July 2007 (.385). The Phillies have done it without significant contributions from Schwarber or Turner — until Schwarber launched the team’s first walk-off dinger since June 9, 2023.

The optimist: It’s benefited the Phillies to see others power the offense. They have gained some confidence. They are more balanced. They are a tougher out, even on days like Sunday when they were an easy opponent for eight innings.

“I wasn’t here before (this season), but I always felt like this was a club when you’re playing against them that it was an up-and-down-the-lineup-type club,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “It wasn’t just power. It was guys that put good bats on you. And that’s what we’re seeing, I think, as much as anything. Good at-bats. Guys fighting.”

The pessimist: To reach their ultimate goal, the Phillies will need their stars to be better. They will need home runs in October when it is almost impossible to string together innings like Sunday’s ninth.

They will take this right now.

Bryce Harper started the ninth with a double on an 0-2, 98-mph fastball just above the zone. Luis Arraez and Brandon Marsh flied out to left field. On the sixth pitch he saw, J.T. Realmuto lined a single to center. Rookie outfielder Justin Crawford worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases.

Edmundo Sosa, in the lineup only because Stott, Arraez and Alec Bohm were nursing injuries, did not see a single pitch in the strike zone. He somehow poked a bases-clearing double just inside the third-base bag. Sosa has eight hits in the last two weeks. He had nine hits from June 22 to Aug. 9.

“Baseball is just giving a little back of all the hard work that I’m putting in and all the hard work we’ve been putting in,” Sosa said through a team interpreter. “So I’m just happy about it.”

Bryan De La Cruz, making a rare start against a right-handed pitcher, worked a 2-2 count and went down to one knee to swing at a pitch well below the strike zone. It bounced three times on the infield, went between the shortstop and third baseman, and scored Sosa. Then, it was Schwarber’s time.

Harper, Realmuto, De La Cruz and Schwarber were all down 0-2 to Riley O’Brien, St. Louis’ All-Star closer. They did not make outs.

The Phillies have the lowest strikeout rate (14.7 percent) in MLB this month. It’s not always going to work like this. But doing it Sunday against the Cardinals conjured memories of how this whole successful era began one afternoon at Busch Stadium in the ninth inning four years ago.

That was a time when all of this was fresh. Everyone in this city has since seen the warts. Many expect it to be painful come October. But no one can accuse these Phillies of not taking them on a journey, 131 games of torture and surprise and sheer madness. That is worth savoring.

Sometimes your foot is throbbing, and you might have to go to the bathroom, but all you want to do is run outside and scream with your friends.

“Yeah,” Stott said. “That was cool.”