Kyle Schwarber, Phillies eager to stay hot in opener vs. Pirates

Kyle Schwarber and the Philadelphia Phillies have turned their season around over the last two-plus weeks.

Schwarber will lead the surging Phillies into the opener of a three-game road series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

With seven home runs in his last seven games, Schwarber has taken over the major league lead with 18 homers this season. His latest blast came in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox -- a two-run shot that helped Philadelphia secure its fifth straight series victory since replacing manager Rob Thomson with Don Mattingly on April 28.

"He's a good game planner," Mattingly said of Schwarber. "So he knows what they're trying to do."

The Phillies' pitching also has been terrific of late, as the team has given up a total of eight runs while going 4-1 in its last five games. Jesus Luzardo led the way Thursday with six scoreless innings before two relievers bridged the gap to Jhoan Duran, who earned his seventh save.

Philadelphia will look to keep the good vibes going against Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft (2-2, 2.77 ERA), who is enjoying a terrific month -- and season -- in his second major league campaign.

The 26-year-old right-hander has allowed two earned runs or less in seven of his eight starts in 2026. He has an 0.61 ERA in May after yielding one run in seven innings Saturday in a 13-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

"I take pride in the fact that I throw a lot of strikes," Ashcraft said. "That's a big thing, getting guys out of the box early, not letting an at-bat extend. ... As a staff, entirely, we've done a really good job of doing our job. Starting pitching going deep in games, it takes a lot of weight off the bullpen."

The Phillies will hand the ball to right-hander Aaron Nola (2-3, 5.14 ERA), who has taken positive steps in his last two starts after allowing 11 runs over his previous two outings.

Nola has a 2.53 ERA this month. He pitched six scoreless innings against the Miami Marlins on May 4 and followed five days later with a decent outing in which he gave up three runs in 4 2/3 frames in his team's 9-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

"I thought he was fine," Mattingly said after Nola's most recent start. "I liked the mix. ... Overall, I like the way he's throwing the ball."

Nola is 4-3 with a 4.25 ERA in 10 career starts against the Pirates. Ashcraft faced the Phillies once as a rookie last season and threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

The Pirates took two of three games from the Rockies this week, including a 7-2 triumph on Thursday. Endy Rodriguez, making his first appearance in the majors in nearly a year because of an elbow injury, drove in two runs for Pittsburgh.

"The last couple years, as we know, dealing with the injuries and the way that he's gone through it and gone about it with the attitude that he has, the energy, he's so positive," Pirates manager Don Kelly said. "It's really cool to see him have that game."

This will be the first of seven meetings between the Phillies and Pirates this season. The teams split six matchups last year.

--Field Level Media