PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber mashed the first pitch for the Phillies under their new Canadian manager for a home run and Bryson Stott sent the final pitch of a weekend sweep into the right field seats.

Make it 3-0 for interim manger Rob Thomson.

Philadelphia’s season – with a team loaded with All-Stars, an MVP and the fourth-highest payroll in baseball – just might not be dead yet.

The Phillies put everything together in a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels and showed flashes of why they were a trendy preseason playoff pick following a free-agent spending spree.

The front end of the rotation delivered: Zack Wheeler struck out nine in six innings in Saturday’s win and Zach Eflin tossed eight shutout innings on Friday.

The weekend ended with an impressive comeback capped by Bryce Harper’s tying grand slam in the eighth inning followed by Stott’s winning, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth.

Where were these Phillies during the season’s first two months?

It’s a question president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski surely wondered last week before he fired Manager Joe Girardi after two-plus seasons without a whiff of the postseason. The Phillies had lost 12 of 17 and dropped well out of the NL East race when Dombrowski dismissed Girardi, who won a World Series with the Yankees, and promoted Girardi’s long-time bench coach and close friend in Thomson.

Three wins, 26 runs, and a comeback that had kids crying later, and the Phillies entered Monday 4 1/2 games out of the second NL wild card. Yes, the wins came against an Angeles team that left Philly on an 11-game losing streak and Mike Trout in a career-worst slump. But the rest of the schedule might actually break in the Phillies’ favor.

“I hate talking about it’s early, it’s early,” Harper said. “It’s not so early. We’ve got to go. We’ve got to play our game and understand that we’re a good team in here.”

The Phillies open a three-game series Tuesday at NL Central-leading Milwaukee. Then comes six games at home against the sub-.500 Diamondbacks and Marlins. Then four games at Washington (only the Reds are worse in the NL) and two games at Texas.

That’s 13 straight games from June 10-22 against teams with losing records.

And, yes, even with four straight wins, the Phillies have a losing record at 25-29.

The 58-year-old Thomson is charged with getting the Phillies and their $233 million payroll back over .500 and into the playoffs for the first time since 2011, the longest postseson drought in the National League.

Thomson is set on giving some of the younger Phillies regular playing time, with Stott paying immediate results.

Stott, one of Harper’s closest friends, hit his first big league home run on Friday and followed with the winner on Sunday. The 24-year-old infielder made the Phillies out of spring training only to get sent to the minors in late April after Girardi rarely played him. Stott started all three games against Los Angeles at shortstop and doesn’t figure to leave the lineup any time soon.

“Being able to put our trust in our young guys the last couple of days and really let them play, it’s been great,” Harper said.

Girardi stuck with veterans such as Didi Gregorious while Thomson played Mickey Moniak twice over Odubel Herrera in center field against the Angles and started Nick Maton at second base in the opener. Maton sprained his right shoulder on a diving catch and went on the injured list. Thomson has also stuck with Alec Bohm and let the error-prone third baseman try and swing his way out of a slump.

“I’m a little bit different than Joe. I’m not going to go into the differences, but I like to think that I’m prepared and I’m a good communicator with these guys,” Thomson said. “The plan is to make sure that all these guys know where they’re supposed to be at any given time whether it’s our bullpen, the lineup, whatever it is. I just want to make sure that the guys are prepared.”

They were prepared against the Angels, and certainly Harper’s three homers and eight RBI over the three games covered a lot of blemishes. But problems persist: Nick Castellanos and Schwarber need to start hitting and Dombrowski should scour the trade market to tighten the bullpen; Corey Knebel gave up the go-ahead run in the ninth.

But for three games in June, there was a reminder of how good it could be in Philly.

ASTROS: Outfielder Yordan Álvarez and the Houston Astros finalized a $115 million, six-year contract covering 2023-28.

The 24-year-old has a one-year deal for 2022 calling for $764,600 while in the major leagues and $304,500 should he be assigned to the minors.

His new deal calls for a $5 million signing bonus payable with 30 days of the contract’s approval by Major League Baseball and salaries of $7 million next year, $10 million in 2024 and $15 million in 2025, covering his three years of arbitration eligibility.

Álvarez receives $26 million annually from 2026-28, when he would have been eligible for free agency.

His salary can escalate from 2024-27 based on finish in MVP voting $1.5 million for first, $750,000 for second and $750,000 for third. The increase would apply to all subsequent seasons.

For 2027 and ’28, Álvarez gets a limited no-trade provision allowing him to list 10 teams he cannot be dealt to without his consent.

Álvarez hit .277 last year and set career highs with 33 homers and 104 RBI. He entered Monday’s series opener against Seattle with a .295 average, 16 homers and 34 RBI, all team highs.

DIAMONDBACKS: The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a minor league contract with former Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The left-hander was recently released by the Chicago White Sox after having a 2-5 record with a 7.88 ERA through eight starts. He was in the final season of a $55 million, three-year deal.

The 34-year-old Keuchel won the AL Cy Young Award with the Houston Astros in 2015 and is also a two-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner. He’ll try to recapture his old form by reuniting with pitching coach Brent Strom, who was with the Astros in 2015 and joined the Diamondbacks during the offseason.

TWINS:  The Minnesota Twins placed right-hander Bailey Ober on the 15-day injured list with a strained right groin on Monday, yet another health setback for their rotation.

Ober became the fifth sidelined pitcher for the Twins among the eight who have started three or more games for them this season.

Sonny Gray, Chris Paddack and Josh Winder are on the injured list, and Joe Ryan is on the COVID-19 list. Two of their starting pitchers from last year, Kenta Maeda and Randy Dobnak, also remain out with long-term injuries. Paddack is done for the season.

Ober is 1-2 with a 4.01 ERA, seven walks and 29 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings over seven starts this season. He previously missed 20 games from April 29-May 21 with a strained right groin.

GUARDIANS-RANGERS: The Cleveland Guardians were postponed by rain at home for the seventh time this season as their series opener against the Texas Rangers was called 20 minutes before the first scheduled pitch.

The teams were rescheduled for a traditional doubleheader on Tuesday, with the first game starting at 3:10 p.m.

MONDAY’S GAME

REDS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 0: Hunter Greene allowed a bunt single to begin the game and then faced the minimum through seven innings, retiring his final 20 batters as Cincinnati won at home in a rain-shortened game.

Brandon Drury hit his 10th homer of the season. Kyle Farmer and Tyler Stephenson each had a two-run double.

The start was delayed 13 minutes due to showers, then a larger line of storms moved in and halted play with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. After a total of 46 minutes in delays, the game was called.

The rain came down so heavy and quick in the seventh that it pooled on the tarp, preventing the grounds crew from pulling it over the baselines and the third base portion of the infield, which became saturated before auxiliary tarps could be brought in.