Kyle Schwarber hits go-ahead homer as Phillies win fifth consecutive series with 3-1 victory over Red Sox

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 14, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — Ranger Suárez wore the same jersey number (55), warmed up to the same Kid Cudi track (“Mr. Rager”), and threw the same six-pitch kitchen sink.

Only this time, he did it all against the Phillies.

How strange.

But as much as some things change, others never do. Take, for instance, Kyle Schwarber crushing baseballs to the most remote regions in Fenway Park.

Schwarber did it again here Thursday night, smashing a cutter over the right-field bullpen to snap a scoreless stalemate in the eighth inning of a rain-delayed 3-1 victory over the Red Sox.

The Phillies became the first team since the 2005 Mets to win five consecutive series after dropping six series in a row, a 180-degree about-face since interim manager Don Mattingly took over on April 28.

A matchup ordained by the baseball gods, pitting the lefty the Phillies let leave (Suárez) against the one in whom they invested (Jesús Luzardo), lived up to the billing. They dueled into the sixth inning, bending ever so slightly, never breaking.

But it was decided by Schwarber, who hit his majors-leading 18th homer and his seventh in the last seven games.

And Fenway is his personal playground.

The numbers are staggering. In 29 games in this 114-year-old ballpark, including a two-month stint with the Red Sox in 2021, Schwarber is 33 for 99 (.333) with eight homers and a 1.139 OPS that ranks slightly behind Hall of Famers Frank Robinson (1.188) and Ted Williams (1.149) and ahead of Jimmie Foxx (1.099) and Lou Gehrig (1.088).

How’s that for company?

“And he’s on our side,” Mattingly said before the game, almost in awe of his good fortune to no longer have to figure out how to deal with Schwarber. “He’s on my team, so it’s a lot better.”

Suárez and Luzardo had both turned over to the game to their respective bullpens when Schwarber came to the plate against Red Sox lefty Tyler Samaniego in the eighth inning. He took three balls and looked at a sinker at the knees for a called strike.

The next pitch was a cutter, but in a similar location.

Schwarber doesn’t miss those.

The Phillies added a run in the eighth when a replay challenge awarded Bryson Stott with a two-out infield single with the bases loaded after he initially was ruled out at first base.

And after the Sox shaved the margin to 3-1 against lefty José Alvarado in the eighth, closer Jhoan Duran slammed the door in the ninth to push the Phillies to 12-4 under Mattingly after a 9-19 start.

Before all that, it was a Suárez-Luzardo staredown.

Suárez spent half his life with the Phillies, who signed him for $25,000 as a 16-year-old from Venezuela. He made his major league debut in 2018, pitched out of the bullpen before becoming a rotation mainstay, and saved his best for October, including a save in the pennant-clinching win over the Padres in 2022.

But Luzardo is younger and more durable. And rather than forking over a five-year, $140 million contract to bring back Suárez in free agency, the Phillies gave Luzardo a five-year, $135 million extension to keep him off the market next winter.

Suárez has pitched well so far for the Red Sox but left his previous start 11 days ago with right hamstring tightness. He appeared spry as ever in his return, retiring the first 11 Phillies before Bryce Harper‘s two-out walk in the fourth inning. The Phillies didn’t have a hit until Alec Bohm’s leadoff single in the fifth.

Luzardo nearly matched him. He left a runner on third base with one out in the third inning, picked off a runner in the fourth, and sidestepped a two-on, two-out spot in the fifth and a leadoff double in the sixth.