The Phillies boarded a plane for London on June 6, finally returned to Philadelphia on June 16 and must have felt like they were on the road for a month.
The London-Boston-Baltimore trip was every bit the gauntlet they expected between the stress of travel and facing two tough American League teams in their own ballparks.
The Phils were thrilled to be home Monday and it showed. They settled in quickly, riding seven sterling innings from Cristopher Sanchez, longballs from Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm and a four-hit night from Rafael Marchan to a 9-2 win over the Padres.
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Schwarber hit his 15th and 16th home runs of the season. Mr. June is doing it again with five homers in his last seven games.
Both bombs came after singles out of the nine-hole from Marchan, who has had two strong starts in a row. He homered Friday in Baltimore then went 4-for-4 with two RBI and threw out Ha-Seong Kim trying to steal second base on Monday. If he can stay healthy while J.T. Realmuto recovers from surgery on his meniscus, this next month should be the best opportunity of Marchan's young career.
Trea Turner was activated before the game and returned to shortstop and his customary No. 2 spot in the lineup after missing six weeks with a hamstring strain. He started a well-executed 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Jurickson Profar to end the top of the fourth and singled twice.
Turner looked healthy gliding from first to third when Bryce Harper doubled to right-center in the bottom of the fifth. Third-base coach Dusty Wathan didn't push it in Turner's first trip around the bases since May 3 and Turner was able to jog home a few pitches later when Bohm hit a three-run shot to left field.
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Bohm began the day 800,000 votes ahead of the next National League third baseman in All-Star voting and only helped his candidacy to start the Midsummer Classic. He's put together two weeks' worth of production in the last four games, going 11-for-17 with three doubles, a homer and eight RBI. Bohm is up to 60 RBI on the season, second in the NL to Marcell Ozuna and fourth in the majors behind Aaron Judge, Ozuna and Jose Ramirez.
Sanchez rebounded from one of his worst starts of the last two seasons. He didn't have the feel for his changeup last Wednesday in Boston when he allowed four runs and nine baserunners over four innings. He had it on Monday, and while the cambio is usually Sanchez' out-pitch, the sinker was also sharp against San Diego, accounting for 13 of his 21 outs.
Only one of the two runs he allowed was earned. Through 14 starts, Sanchez is 4-3 with a 2.91 ERA that ranks sixth in the National League.
Aaron Nola and Suarez round out the series, while the Padres turn to Michael King and knuckleballer Matt Waldron. The 48-24 Phillies ripped King on April 28 in San Diego with three homers and six runs in his 5⅓ innings.