PHOENIX — Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto each hit a home run and Zack Wheeler scattered six hits across seven innings in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 6-1 victory Saturday night over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Chase Field.
The Phillies lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. They will host Game 6 on Monday.
Wheeler (3-0) struck out eight batters and walked one. He was also the Game 1 winner in Philadelphia.
Arizona starter Zac Gallen (2-2), the loser in Game 1, retired 11 straight batters after allowing the Phillies to score two runs on three hits in the top of the first inning.
Schwarber snapped the string leading off the sixth inning with his fifth home run of the series, increasing the Phillies’ lead to 3-0.
He broke the record for most home runs in NLCS history with his 11th, a solo blast that went 461 feet to right field. Schwarber had been tied at 10 with Albert Pujols.
Schwarber also owns the MLB record for postseason home runs by a left-handed batter with 20. He broke Reggie Jackson’s previous record of 18 with a home run in Friday’s 6-5 loss.
Two batters after Schwarber’s blast Saturday, Harper hit a solo home run to roughly the same area in right field, a 444-foot blast.
Harper and Schwarber are tied with Jayson Werth with the most home runs in Phillies postseason history with 11.
Arizona did not score in the first six innings against Wheeler despite having at least one baserunner in five of those innings.
Alek Thomas, who hit the game-tying home run in the eighth inning in Friday’s victory, led off the seventh inning with another blast to right field to cut the lead to 4-1.
Realmuto hit a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning after reliever Luis Frias entered the game.
–Javier Morales, Field Level Media