Phillies Keep Rolling in Series Win in San Diego
Photo via the Philadelphia Phillies on Twitter
It was a sunny, gorgeous Labor Day day in San Diego on Monday evening, and the Phillies made it even more enjoyable.
The Phillies started Taijuan Walker, who struggled to find his location in the strike zone in the early innings of the game. Walker pitched five innings, gave up four earned runs, and struck out four.
The offense for the Phillies started to roll in the right direction as they embraced a bad pitching performance by Padres’ starter, Rich Hill. In the top of the first, Alec Bohm stepped up to the plate and hit a bases-clearing RBI double to left field, scoring Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner, giving the Phillies their first lead of the game.
In the bottom of the first, Padres’ slugger Fernando Tatis, Jr. hit a towering solo home run to left center field that made the score 3-1.
From the top of the second to the top of the third, the Phillies bats continued to heat up as Edmundo Sosa, Trea Turner, and Christian Pache made a dent in Rich Hill’s performance scoring three runs in the top of the second and two runs in the top of the third, which put the Phillies up by seven runs.
Later in the game, the Phillies’ relievers could not find the same success they have had thus far in 2023. Phillies’ relievers Andrew Bellatti and Gregory Soto couldn’t locate their strike zone when pitching. The Phillies’ high-leverage relievers, Craig Kimbrel and Jose Alvarado, both took the mound as they tried to limit the Padres from scoring. It was a slow process but they ended up getting over the hump and won by two runs.
Should Phillies fans be worried about how the pitching performance was? It’s not the end of the world. The pitching wasn’t solid from start to finish, and that is going to happen at some point in the season. I know that these pitchers can absolutely lock in on their good days and change the momentum of the game in a heartbeat. It’ll be intriguing to see how Taijuan Walker pitches in his next start and see if he changes anything to limit big hits from opposing teams.
The Phillies took game one of a three-game series, 9-7.
Unfortunately, the vibes on Tuesday were not as good, as the Phillies could not get their offense going against Pedro Avila and the Padres.
The Phillies started Michael Lorenzen on a beautiful Tuesday evening in San Diego. Lorenzen pitched 6.0 innings, allowed six earned runs on eight hits, and only struck out one batter. He definitely didn’t look solid at all as the Padres bats kept heating up as the game went on, and he struggled to get ahead of hitters early in the count.
Lorenzen was dealing early on until a towering solo shot to left field made the score 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth. Following the solo homer, the Padres racked up three more runs in the same bottom half of the inning.
In the bottom of the 6th, Lorenzen continued to pitch poorly as the Padres embraced it by extending their lead to 7-0 with help from Xander Bogaerts and Luis Campusano, both of whom hit big-time singles which drove in runs.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Padres secured another run that made the score 8-0 on a sac-fly to center field that scored in a run against Phillies’ reliever Dylan Covey, sealing the deal even farther for San Diego.
Phillies bats were quiet with the absence of Trea Turner, who was put on the paternity list after Monday’s win. Things like this will be happening as some games aren’t going to go the way you want them to as a fan. It’s going to be a long ride the rest of the week, and there’s no doubt that getting back the team’s hottest hitter on Friday will be helpful.
The Phillies fell to the Padres 8-0 in game two.
It was a fantastic afternoon in San Diego on Wednesday night, thanks to the Phillies’ bats heating up despite the shutout the day before.
The Phillies started Zack Wheeler on the mound, who pitched really well and had excellent command and velocity. Wheeler pitched six innings, struck out seven batters, and allowed no runs on just one hit.
Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies led off in the top of the first with his 41st homer of the season, making the score 1-0 Phillies. The runs kept pouring in as Bryce Harper hit a two-run double to center field in the top of the 4th that made the score 3-0.
The Padres starting pitcher, Michael Wacha, who is by far the best pitcher the Phillies faced this series, struggled on the mound, as he only got through four innings of work.
In the top of the 5th, J.T. Realmuto went deep for a solo home run that extended the Phillies lead to 4-0 off of Padres reliever Tim Hill. Following that, Jake Cave delivered a single to left field that drove in a run that made the score 5-0.
The Phillies had Matt Stahm on the mound to pitch the bottom of the 9th, and he allowed a single by Garrett Cooper that made it a four-run game, but he quickly struck out Jose Azocar, the next batter, to secure the series win.
As expected, there were many positive takeaways from the pitching in the game on Wednesday. Zack Wheeler continued to be the most consistent starter on the Phillies, and he lowered his season ERA to 3.49. This is the type of pitching that the Phillies need if they want to make a deep run in the postseason, so now is a perfect time for Wheeler to find his stride.
NEXT UP: The 77-62 Phillies travel back home to face the 72-67 Miami Marlins for a weekend series starting on Friday, September 8 at 7:05 pm ET, followed by a 6:05 pm ET start time on Saturday, and a 1:05 pm ET start time on Sunday. The games can be seen on NBC Sports Philadelphia and heard on Sports Radio 94.1 WIP Philadelphia.
