Phillies Notebook

PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber’s second home run Tuesday, a 447-foot three-run blast was the longest of the season at Citizens Bank Park.

The second-deck shot off Trevor Williams was Schwarber’s 30th of the season and it staked the Phillies to a three-run lead in what became a 8-4 win over the Washington Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader.

On a night where the wind was blowing left to right, creating a jet stream, four of the six home runs in the game hit the seats in right field or right center field. Both of Schwarber’s bombs, and a 419-foot blast by Alec Bohm were to right. Jake Cave delivered a 428-foot two-run shot to dead center.

Kebert Ruiz slammed a 390-foot home run to right field. Lane Thomas a two-run shot to left for the Nationals.

“You look up at the flags and they were whipping,” Zach Wheeler said. “Any ball that gets up in the air is probably going to go a little bit easier today.”

The Phillies have three or more in three straight games for the first time since August of last season. But it’s just the sixth time they’ve done so dating to 1901.

Schwarber has hit 30 or more homers five times, including three seasons in a row. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are the only players with five seasons of 30-or-more dingers since 2017.

Wheeler scattered seven hits and three earned runs over 6 innings to elevate to 9-5 on the season. He struck out six and needed 95 pitches to get that far, the veteran suspecting the Nationals had picked something up in his delivery to figure out what he was throwing.

“I had to change up some stuff that I was doing that I might have been tipping,” Wheeler said. “They’ve been hitting me well this year and we just thought it was time to change something. Once I did that the next few innings were better.”

Wheeler wouldn’t divulge what he might have tipped off. But he certainly was happy his teammates had his back.

“They picked me up with the bats,” Wheeler said. “I let (the Nats) get out early, and sometimes that can hurt us. But we came right back and got some big runs and Schwarber headed that.”

Schwarber ripped a 450-foot home run at Arizona in June, the Phillies’ longest blast of the season.

Schwarber made a national audience stand at attention with a 488-foot homer off Yu Darvish of San Diego in the NLCS in October. That’s still the longest homer at Petco Park since distance stats have been kept.

Shohei Ohtani has the longest home run of the MLB season, a 493-footer against Arizona.

• • •

Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado had a mild setback in his comeback from an issue with his throwing elbow.

The lefthander is slated to throw another bullpen instead of beginning a rehab assignment Thursday largely because he has cramping in his hands, according to manager Rob Thompson.

That’s after a solid bullpen following which Thomson remarked “His velocity was good. The cutter was good. He threw strikes.

“He’s ready for a rehab.”

The cramping isn’t related to the elbow deal, per Thomson.

Alvarado is second on the Phils with six saves.

• • •

First base umpire Lew Williams had three calls overturned in the first three innings, including two against the Phillies.

Just as oddly, none of the players involved in the reversals scored.

It reached the point where even Williams’ routine calls were being second-guessed.

• • •

Phillies centerfielder Cristian Pache begins a rehab assignment Wednesday in Clearwater, and the plan is to be back next week.

Pache went on the IL on July 17 after undergoing surgery to remove a screw from his right elbow.

• • •

Right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz was brought in from triple-A Lehigh Valley as the additional player for the twin bill with the Nationals.

Ortiz was 3-0 with three saves, a 4.25 ERA (14 ER, 29.2 IP), eight walks and 34 strikeouts in 23 games for the IronPigs.

Ortiz has a streak of four straight scoreless appearances with five strikeouts with no walks in four innings.

With the Phillies this season, the 29-year-old Ortiz has a 3.86 ERA (6 ER, 14.0 IP) with five walks and 12 strikeouts in 10 games. He also appeared in the second game of the Phillies’ doubleheader against the Padres on July 15.

• • •

NOTES: Williams took the loss, allowing eight hits and six earned runs in 4.2 innings. The righthander struck out seven … The triumph put the Phillies (62-51) 11 games over .500 for the first time this season … Bohm has eight home runs versus the Nats, his most on any team … Former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, a longball hitter in his time, watched the homerfest from the press box. He felt the wind was a definite factor. “Get it up high,” Manuel said. “The higher the better. Except Schwarber. When he gets a piece of it, it doesn’t matter.”