PHILADELPHIA — Max Kepler watched it fly.

On Monday, he would have had his first homer — and extra-base hit — since June 16, but the Padres’ Jackson Merrill hauled it back over the wall before it could become a three-run shot.

Kepler didn’t have to wait very much longer after that to end his drought. In the fourth inning of the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Kepler sent a slider from Dylan Cease 379 feet, a no-doubter to the right-field seats that was well out of Merrill’s reach. The two-run homer helped back up another dazzling Cristopher Sánchez start, en route to 5-1 win over San Diego.

Last week, Kepler had expressed discontent with his playing time. He hasn’t faced a left-handed starter since April 2, and has only faced three this season. He sat for four days in a row last week amid a streak of left-handed opposing starters at home and in Houston.

Now starting for the seventh game in a row against the current string of right-handers, Kepler is in a bit of a groove. And he’s not the only Phillies lefty who is. Brandon Marsh bashed a homer of his own an inning later off Cease.

Marsh made up for a baserunning blunder he had made in the ninth inning of the doubleheader’s first game. He had nearly made the final out of the game trying to go from first to third on a Trea Turner single, and was saved by San Diego third baseman Manny Machado missing the tag.

Meanwhile, Sánchez did not allow a hit until Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the fourth inning with an infield single. Tatis then came around to score the only Padres’ only run, after a throwing error from Otto Kemp and a ground ball single from Merrill.

The lefty induced a lot of contact on the ground over seven innings, with 13 ground-ball outs. For his fourth start in a row, Sánchez did not allow a single walk.

The Phillies added another run in the seventh inning on a triple from Alec Bohm to the right-field corner, which scored a pinch-running Johan Rojas. With the Phillies leading, Rojas entered the game in place of Kyle Schwarber, who started in left field. Nick Castellanos was the designated hitter.

Orion Kerkering pitched the eighth. An acrobatic jumping grab from Bohm at third and back-to-back strikeouts of Merrill and Machado helped him strand two runners.

Matt Strahm took over for the ninth. He bounced back from a two-out walk by striking out Jose Iglesias in three pitches to end the game.

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