Kyle Schwarber continued his historic home run surge Tuesday night with a pair of solo homers to power the Philadelphia Phillies to a 10-0 win over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
The Phillies have collected 12 extra-base hits ¡ª six homers and six doubles ¡ª while taking a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven matchup. Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Phoenix.
Seventy-five of the 89 teams to take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series have won the series. Since the wild card was implemented in 1995, only three teams ¡ª the 1996 Atlanta Braves in the World Series, the 2004 New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series and the 2020 Braves in the NLCS ¡ª have squandered a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven set.
The Phillies are 7-1 this postseason and have outscored the opposition 46-13.
Trea Turner, Philadelphia¡¯s second batter of the game, homered against Merrill Kelly (1-1) before Schwarber hit solo shots in the third and sixth to extend the lead.
Schwarber, who hit one of the Phillies¡¯ three homers on Monday in a 5-3 win, has 10 homers in 21 LCS games dating back to his rookie season with the Chicago Cubs in 2015. That¡¯s tied for second all-time in LCS play with Albert Pujols and behind only Manny Ramirez (13).
Schwarber has nine homers overall in 25 postseason games for the Phillies, fourth-most in franchise history behind Bryce Harper and Chase Utley (10 apiece) and Jayson Werth (11).
The Phillies pulled away in the sixth, a frame that started with Schwarber¡¯s second home of the night. J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run double and scored on Brandon Marsh¡¯s double. In the seventh, Alec Bohm ripped a two-RBI double and Realmuto delivered a run-scoring single before Nick Castellanos lofted a sacrifice fly.
Aaron Nola (3-0) cruised to the victory after allowing three hits and walking none while striking out seven over six innings. The Diamondbacks, who were shut out in a postseason game for the first time in team history, got just two runners as far as second base against Nola and a trio of relievers.
Ketel Marte had two of the Diamondbacks¡¯ four hits.
Kelly gave up four runs on three hits and three walks while striking out six over 5 2/3 innings.
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