PHILADELPHIA — Two scenes, one money superstar and one night of madness here that pushed this Philadelphia Phillies team to the brink of immortality.
Bryce Harper stood on second base, essentially center stage at the moment, with a deafening sellout crowd of 45,467 roaring. He had just roped an R.B.I. double, the final, tiebreaking death blow for the San Diego Padres in a 10-6 Philadelphia win Saturday night that moved the Phillies to within one win of clinching a World Series berth.
As the ovation washed over Harper, he screamed, with expletive included, something to the effect of, “This is my house!” In waves, the spirited noise only became louder.
The second scene came 45 minutes or so after the victory was sealed and this entire city already was on alert, pointing to Sunday and a potential clincher. Now, it was quiet and Harper was finishing up in the press interview room. As he exited and the next player entered, Harper paused and dramatically announced:
“Rhys Hoskins, everybody! There he is!”
Four games into this National League Championship Series, it has become clear that it is going to take an extraordinary effort by the Padres to stop the fightin’ Phillies. And now facing a three-games-to-one deficit, even extraordinary may not be enough.
The Phillies spotted the Padres four first-inning runs in Game 4. Their opener, a little-known fellow named Bailey Falter, who had not pitched since Oct. 5, lasted exactly six batters before being sent to the showers. All signs pointed to San Diego evening this series at 2-2.
And then, the Phillies lowered the boom.
Hoskins crushed two two-run homers. Kyle Schwarber scored three runs, clubbed a 429-foot solo homer and was so engaged that at one point during a mid-game at-bat that he showed bunt on a 3-1 count as if that really was going to happen.
“Like, you’re never going to see Kyle Schwarber do that, not in the regular season,” Hoskins raved afterward. “This guy just wants to win games, find any way on base. He knew we needed a little bit of a rally.
“It’s just good baseball. It’s fun to be a part of.”
The top five hitters in the Phillies lineup — Schwarber, Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, Harper and Nick Castellanos — combined to go 9 for 18 with four home runs, nine R.B.I. and 10 runs scored.
It was a bludgeoning, a domination, an annihilation.
It was thorough and, oh, so complete.
“I just think we’re jelling, we’re adapting on the fly, we’re playing baseball,” Castellanos said. “We’re rolling. We’re stepping up, we’re playing defense, we’re turning the page.”
And they pretty much did all of it on a night that began as if it would belong to San Diego.
When the Phillies returned to their dugout following San Diego’s four-run first inning, Hoskins said they were calm, cool and businesslike. Somebody said, and many others — including manager Rob Thomson — echoed the mantra: 27 outs. They hadn’t even taken their first licks yet. They knew there was a long way to go. They knew the Padres essentially were matching them in a bullpen game with pitchers coming down the line who may be used out of their ordinary roles.
Given all of that, Hoskins said, the Phillies knew they were going “to slug.” And slug they did.
This is a team that had to scrap all the way to the finish line of the regular season just to claim the bread crumb that was the last of six playoff spots in the N.L.
That was then. Now, this team is flexing its muscles and appears poised to claim its ninth N.L. pennant as soon as Sunday.
“As soon as our at-bats are over, we’re looking for someone to tell, ‘Hey, this is what I saw, this is how he’s throwing his pitches,’” Castellanos said of the Phillies’ eagerness to share tips with each other.
In a first-inning that stretched to 48 minutes once Philadelphia got its turn at bat, the Phillies ran San Diego starter Mike Clevinger off before he had obtained a single out. Things didn’t go any better for Sean Manaea, the third of six Padres pitchers.
“We’ve always had that fight in us the whole year,” Schwarber said. “We believe in ourselves. We feel that we’re never out of it, no matter what the score is.
“We’re going to keep fighting.”
That is the Padres’ problem for Sunday. They led 4-0 and 6-4 in Game 4 and came away empty. So now what?
The Phillies now can clinch a spot in their first World Series since 2009 on Sunday afternoon with Zack Wheeler on the mound. In three postseason starts this month, Wheeler has surrendered only three earned runs over 19⅓ innings for a 1.40 E.R.A. He has struck out 17 and walked only three. Combining both regular and postseason play, Wheeler has thrown 25⅔ consecutive scoreless innings over eight starts against the Padres.
The Phillies sense that this is their moment, they are behaving as if this is their moment and the crowds in Citizens Bank Park this month have been absolutely bonkers, as if they know something.
Take Harper out there all alone at second base Saturday night, Realmuto having just scored to lift the Phillies into a 7-6 lead and pandemonium breaking loose all around him.
“Just having all of us together in that moment, it was just so much fun,” Harper said, referring to the 26 Phillies and the 45,467 standing and screaming in the stands. “Just the opportunity to do that and we’re all in this, and just the whole city of Philadelphia and all the Phillies in the organization.
“The fans have showed out for us each night. It was rocking again tonight. Just so much fun. So much fun.”
Before the game, Padres Manager Bob Melvin was saying that “every day in the postseason, it feels as if you’re on the brink, to tell you the truth. When you’ve lost a game the day before, it feels even more so.”
By evening’s end, Philadelphia had updated that from every day to every inning for the Padres. They were on the brink all evening Saturday, and now there is nowhere else to go. They are on the cliff’s edge.
“Hey, it’s tough to play in the jungle, man,” Castellanos said. “All evening, the cheering, the noise, it’s rough. It definitely has an effect on the game.”
That said, from Castellanos to Schwarber to everyone else in the Phillies clubhouse, they all went to extremes to emphasize that there will be no letting down now.
“I don’t think I’d be comfortable to say we delivered a knockout blow,” Castellanos said in response to a leading question. “That’s a good team over there.”
But the Phillies so far have been the better team.
“I don’t think any of us are in shock, but to stand here and say that we’re grateful and understand that this opportunity is huge,” Harper said. “We’re one of the last teams playing right now and it’s really cool to see that.”
Harper and Castellanos both emphasized the joy in the moment. You reach the end of the night, Castellanos said, “and I’m excited to wake up and play baseball again.”
Harper echoed that.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to come to the ballpark each day,” he said. ‘I’m grateful for these fans, them showing out for us and how cool it is, how much fun it is.”
One win away from his first World Series, Harper is on deck for even more fun.
