BALTIMORE — It’s been more than a month since Kyle Schwarber participated in what evolved into a daily ritual. He cherished his time on the field, early in the afternoons, hitting against the curveball machine. Schwarber did not do it every day, but it became a mainstay in his routine. More and more teammates joined him over time. It went from being early work to regular work.Now, Schwarber does almost all of his pregame hitting indoors. It is a more controlled setting. This is not an accident; Schwarber was forced to alter his routine in late June when an unspecified lower back injury sidelined him for two days.He’s hit only four home runs in the 30 games since.“A lot of it does revolve around, like, making sure that it’s not something … I’m telling you, I’m not hurt,” Schwarber said. “It’s also being on the preventative side of that. It’s making sure. We’re at the time of year where everything’s building up. We’re going to be pushing. Then all hands on deck for whatever we get to.”The Phillies actually won a game Saturday night — 5-0 against the Baltimore Orioles. It was a reprieve from the gloom that has hovered over them.But for Schwarber, an 0-for-4 night was emblematic of his recent slump. He lashed a hard lineout to center on a pitch that was out of the strike zone. He struck out looking at three consecutive pitches. He struck out again on a half swing at a bad pitch. He did draw a key walk in the eighth inning and scored an insurance run, but struck out again in the ninth.He’s homered once since the All-Star break. Still, he’s tied for the National League lead in home runs with 33.“There’s nothing that’s hindering me from the power aspect of anything,” Schwarber said. “I feel like I’ve had some good quality of contact. … The way I like to grade it out in terms of my at-bats is: Am I getting to the pitches that I want to get to? Am I swinging at the pitches I should? Am I taking the pitches I should?”Should we crown the Dodgers following the Skubal trade?Derek VanRiper and Eno SarrisThere have been more times of late when he’s swinging at the pitches he should not.“Exactly,” Schwarber said. “And I’d be the first one to tell you. Is the quality of contact there? I can’t really live off the result. Am I just hitting the homer, or am I doing this right? Because at the end of the day, I still pride myself on being a hitter.”Schwarber’s three homers in July were tied for his lowest in a month since joining the Phillies in 2022. He homered three times in August 2022 and May 2024. His .767 OPS in July was his lowest monthly mark since April 2024.He missed two games earlier on this road trip with a recurrence of a gastrointestinal issue. “There’s a condition,” Schwarber said, “but we don’t have to go into the condition.” He believes it can be managed.The back ailment, something Schwarber played through, was probably a bigger deal than anyone acknowledged.“When you come back from an issue like that, it’s not going to be 100 percent right away,” Schwarber said. “That’s the thing about that. You’re not going to feel like you were right before it. I wish I did. But you’re going to find a way to get through it.”So he’s trying to be smarter about it. Schwarber refused to use the phrase “workload management.”“I hate that word, workload,” Schwarber said, while conceding that some changes were required. “A lot of it is managing swings now.”Kyle Schwarber, here admiring a long ball, hit only three home runs in July. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)He saw a higher percentage of breaking balls than fastballs in July for the first time in a month all season, and slugged only .351 on those pitches. So, rather than just take hacks against the curveball machine outside, Schwarber is using a machine called Spinball. He can input specific pitch characteristics into it, simulating the breaking ball of that night’s starter. It’s a machine many teams use. Schwarber has one at home in Ohio that he uses during the offseason.Schwarber said he’s guilty, at times, of overdoing it. He might take 20 swings between at-bats during a game. It varies. Sometimes, it’s five.A younger Schwarber might have reacted to the power drought by spending hours in the cage or doing increased work outside. The dings and dents this season had Schwarber, 33, rethinking that last month.“It’s making sure that you’re not putting yourself at risk because you’re trying to prepare yourself versus trying to really hammer yourself beforehand,” Schwarber said. “I mean, the power, it’s been weird. … That’s the beautiful thing about it. You figure out where you can be. And you don’t want to just be so reliant on one thing, right? Because that one thing can come and go.”It’s true; beyond the homers, Schwarber has contributed in other ways. He has a .364 on-base percentage since June 25, the night he returned from a two-game absence with the back issue. That is the highest mark on the Phillies during that span.The Phillies need more men on base. It’s why they were willing to pay Schwarber, a designated hitter, big money on a five-year deal that runs deep into his 30s. They think his approach will age well.But they’d like some dingers too.“I’m sure he’s frustrated by the strikeouts,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “But he is a guy that always controls the zone. He continues to do that. So he’s probably not rolling right now and feeling great as far as just his swing. But, still, his at-bats all kind of look the same. Even if he’s going good or going bad, they still look the same.”It was still a lackluster July. The team struggled and Schwarber’s power output lessened. The Phillies don’t have a robust offense. It’s going to be a grind over the final two months. Schwarber can feel it.He wants to embrace it.“For us, as a group, it’s finding a way,” Schwarber said. “Find that way. If we’re going to be in those tight games, we know how to win those tight games. We know what it takes to win those tight games. Don’t let any seed of doubt creep in because that’s just going to bring you down the rabbit hole. That’s just going to take you to a place you don’t want to go. We have the experience of doing it.”