This game traditionally began with a home run by Kyle Schwarber. In the not too distant future, there will be children who cannot remember a Phillies game that did not begin with a home run by Schwarber; the idea will seem as plausible to them as Christmas without presents or a birthday without cake. In the present, however, there was a game against Toronto.

The 1st inning wasn’t all pretty. Bryce Harper caught a pitch that grazed his elbow (luckily it wasn’t the sore elbow that had been bothering him lately). The Phillies finished the inning 1-0 with a couple on the bench.

In their half of the 1st inning, the Blue Jays scored two runs against Cristopher Sánchez with three consecutive doubles by Daulton Varsho, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk. But they didn’t hold that lead for long. The Phillies’ 9-hole hitter proved to be as big a problem for Toronto as the leadoff man, as Kody Clemens hit a two-run dinger to right for a 3-2 lead in the 2nd inning.

Toronto continued its two-bagger parade with a Davis-Schneider double in the second inning, but it came to nothing as his teammates abandoned him.

In the 3rd inning, Edmundo Sosa was brought in as a pinch hitter for Harper, who was taken out as a precaution to prevent aggravation of his elbow problems. Although the first few innings seemed to herald an offensive explosion, the game was mostly sluggish and the score remained 3-2 for much of the game. Another Blue Jay double, this time by Brian Serven, brought Toronto to the brink of tying the score in the 5th inning, but a sliding catch by Kyle Schwarber, back in his old stomping ground of left field for the day, ended the inning.

Sánchez finished his day with 2 ER, 7 K and no walks after 7 innings of pitching. He had a good chance of winning if the Phillies held on.

Schwarber worked a walk in the 8th inning and was then replaced by Johan Rojas as a pinch runner. Rojas quickly proved to be a smart decision by stealing 2nd base, and a walk by Trea Turner put runners on 1st and 2nd without an out. Edmundo Sosa advanced both bases with a sacrifice bunt (the art of which is apparently not dead). But a lineout by Nick Castellanos and a strikeout by Bryson Stott left the runners behind, and the Phillies remained scoreless in their final 6 innings.

Jeff Hoffman relieved Sánchez in the bottom of the eighth inning and sent the Blue Jays home in order.

At the beginning of the 9th inning, the offensive slump was finally ended by a home run by JT Realmuto. Brandon Marsh hit a double immediately afterward, seemingly promising more runs. He made it to third base, but ultimately fell by the wayside.

Carlos Estévez stepped onto the mound to end the game, with Alejandro Kirk, Ernie Clement and Spencer Horwitz standing in his way. Estévez dispatched the first two quickly, but let the third go. That brought the tying point to the plate in the form of pinch hitter Will Wagner. Estévez swung him to the ground, and that was that.

The Phillies are 83-56 and have won both games of the shortened 2-game series against Toronto. They begin a 4-game series against Miami tomorrow at 6:40 p.m.