Despite Harper’s Horrifying Injury, Phillies Pull Through And Win 3-4 in Series Vs. Padres

Coming off a brutal sweep by the 33-35 Texas Rangers on Wednesday, the Philadelphia Phillies had a winning, motivated mindset on the plane ride from Texas to San Diego.

On a beautiful sunny late Thursday afternoon in San Diego at Petco Park, the Phillies came prepared and did what they do best which was dominate offensively putting up six runs.

Phillies starting pitcher, Ranger Suarez had a spectacular pitching performance. He pitched 7.1 innings, with three strikeouts, and gave up seven hits.

Although Suarez gave up a run in the bottom of the second, the Phillies managed to do some damage at the plate. 

It all started in the top of the fifth inning when Obdubel Herrara singled to shallow left field and scored a run to tie the game at one. Next inning Kyle Schwarber smacked one out which was his twentieth on the season and put the Phillies in the driver’s seat with a 3-1 lead. Moments later, J.T. Realmuto came up to bat and smacked a home run to right field and scored Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos to make the score 6-1 Phillies. 

Seranthony Dominquez came to pitch in the bottom of the eighth and allowed a run to score but the Phillies held on to win the ball game, 6-2, and take game one of the four-game series.

J.T. Realmuto finally got over the hump of his slump against a really solid Padres and the timing couldn’t have been any better as he hit one out. It will be interesting to watch how Realmuto continues to bat and find ways to help the Phillies get runners in scoring position.

Ranger Suarez had a stellar performance and it showed for sure on Thursday night. His command was coming along well and had a tremendous feeling to the strike zone and limited runner’s scoring.

Coming off a solid win on Thursday evening for the Phillies versus a very solid San Diego team, the offensive game never got through the mountain. 

The Phillies were 0-for-8 in runners in scoring position all game long. They didn’t have the same feeling as to what happened the previous night where the Phillies got the hitting going.

The only run of the game occurred in the bottom of the sixth inning where Phillies starter Aaron Nola was throwing to his brother, Austin Nola, who is on the Padres and Austin singled on a line drive to right field and scored Eric Hosmer. It’s the first time since RBI became an official stat in 1920 that a player had an RBI against his brother in a 1-0 victory, according to STATS.

Despite the loss, Aaron Nola had a terrific performance, pitching seven innings, ten strikeouts, and gave up the one run. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Phillies were so close to tying the ball game at one when the bases were loaded with two outs and Kyle Schwarber came up to bat and hit a deep fly ball to center field and it was caught and the Padres won, 1-0.

Aaron Nola is continuing to sacrifice a ton out there in every pitch he has thrown. He is definitely having a better feel with his pitching command. It will be interesting to see how he will continue to shine in the next few starts he will have.

The Phillies need to have better control with runners on base in scoring position. If this doesn’t get better soon and stays put then this ball club won’t have the success of winning games down the road against good teams like the San Diego Padres.

The Phillies came into their match-up versus the Padres Saturday evening with a winning mindset and they played to their best ability they overcame their success although losing their biggest piece in Bryce Harper in the fourth inning to a horrible 97 mph pitch that killed his thumb. 

Zach Eflin got the start as he pitched five innings, and gave up two earned runs, and two walks. He had a pretty decent performance although allowing those two runs. 

The Phillies got off to a fast start as J.T. Realmuto hit a solo homer to put the Phillies up 1-0 in the top of the fifth. Seconds later, Munoz grounded out to second and scored Alec Bohm making the score 2-0. The scoring continued after those two at-bats as Kyle Schwarber hit a double deep to right field and scored Didi Gregorius putting the Phillies in the driver’s seat with a 3-0 lead.

Zach Eflin gave up a double by Jorge Alfaro in the next bottom half-inning that scored C.J. Abrams and Jake Cronenworth erased the 3-0 lead that Philadelphia had and the score was 3-2 by then.

The Phillies limited the stellar batters that San Diego had and made sure they didn’t get out of hand with the Padres producing hits. The Phillies ended up winning the game, 4-2.

Bryce Harper left in the fourth inning due to a horrifying thumb injury from a ninety-seven mph pitch by Blake Snell. The Phillies later announced that there was a fracture in his thumb which isn’t good at all for this ball club. Having Harper out, for now, will then mean Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Rhys Hoskins to step it up a notch at the plate and hope for the best in each game.

Zach Eflin had a solid night at Petco Park although giving up the two earned runs but it’ll be interesting to see how his performances in his next five starts will go after seeing what he did against a very solid hitting team in the Padres on Saturday night.

The Phillies turned back to the winning column on a gorgeous afternoon at Petco Park. Although the Phillies starter wasn’t sharp, they maintained to hit the ball late in the game and limited runs from the Padres.

Phillies starter Kyle Gibson didn’t perform well on the mound as he only pitched 2.2 innings in which he gave up five earned runs. Phillies reliever Nick Nelson got brought into the game and did a much better job than Gibson did.

The scoring for the Phillies began in the top of the 2nd when Bryson Stott singled on a sharp ground ball to center field and brought Obdubel Herrera home to tie the game at one. Moments later, Kyle Schwarber doubled on a sharp line drive to center field and scored Stott making the score 2-1 Phillies. 

The third inning was a mess since Gibson gave up three runs and the Padres took control of the game.

But, things changed rapidly in the top of the seventh inning when Kyle Schwarber launched one to left field that scored Stott and Vierling that put the Phillies up 6-5. 

Next inning, Phillies Garrett Stubbs singled on a line drive to center field and Alec Bohm scored. The Phillies lead stretched to two runs, 7-5.

In the ninth inning, Padres reliever Ray Kerr pitched a wild pitch, and a run scored because of it and made the score 8-5 and it was the final.

Nick Castellanos had a day for himself in which he ended up having a four-hit day at the plate. It helped a ton for the Phillies offense late in the game. It was his first multi-hit game since June 17, and his first four-hit game since August 21. He is a large piece to this ball club and they need him to continue to thrive in the line-up.

Should Phillies fans be concerned about Kyle Gibson? Padres hitters pounded Kyle Gibson on Sunday afternoon. It shouldn’t be too concerning considering they played a good ball club but if he does that kind of performance in the next five or so starts then it should be concerning. We will have to wait and see what he will do.