Phillies Split the PA series with Pittsburgh- Remain at .500 With an 8-8 Record
Kyle Ross/USA TODAY
For the first of the two series the Pirates and Phillies will play against each other this season, each team left with a pair of wins and losses. The series was highlighted by a great outing from Ranger Suarez, the debut of the Phillies’ City Connect uniforms, a walk-off single from Nick Castellanos, and Pirates’ legend Andrew McCutchen sending his 300th career home run into the stands. Let’s recap everything that went down in this four-game series at the Bank.
Game One
Ranger Suarez was on the bump to start the series and did not disappoint. Suarez went six innings, allowed only two hits, walked two batters, and tallied eight strikeouts while allowing no runs. As for the offensive side of things, Alec Bohm got things going in the fourth with his first home run of the new season being a 407-foot bomb over the centerfield wall. The longball would define this game for the Phillies as that’s where all of the team’s five runs would come from. The next would be off the bat of red-hot Brandon Marsh, who got himself a two-run blast, which, after a brief review, was ruled to be his 4th home run of the season. Not long after, Bryson Stott got himself a two-run homer of his own, launching his 402 feet to right-center field. Nick Nelson would allow the Pirates to get on the board in the top of the ninth with just one run, but it was too little and too late, allowing the Phillies to take game one with a score of 5-1.
Game Two
For the first time this season, the Phillies took the field in their brand new City Connect uniforms. I’d imagine this wasn’t exactly how the team would’ve liked the jersey’s debut to go because this game was very ugly for the Phillies. Christopher Sanchez walked home the first run of the game for the Pirates, not long after he cost himself an out when he was unable to secure the baseball and get an easy out at first. Lightning almost struck twice when the Pirates quickly had runners on first and second, due in part to another error by Christopher Sanchez. The Pirates would tally another run in the fourth inning, but to Christopher Sanchez’s credit, he was lights out after that. Bryson Stott would put the Phillies on the board in the fifth inning on what was ruled an infield single to score Brandon Marsh. The Phillies would hand pitching duties over to Yunior Marte, who—for the first time this season—experienced some struggles, allowing a run as the Pirates expanded their lead to two. After that, Ricardo Pinto would also struggle, allowing a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning. The Phillies would strike back with a run in the bottom of the eighth, but similar to the Pirates the day before, it was too little and too late, and the Pirates won 5-2.
Game Three
The Phillies’ bullpen shined bright in game three, which was by far the closest game of the series. Spencer Turnbull struggled for really the first time this season on the mound, allowing Ke’Bryan Hayes to tally an RBI double in the first inning. But the offense saw something we became very familiar with a season ago: A Schwarbomb in the first inning. That, paired with an RBI single from Nick Castellanos not long after, and it was quickly a 2-1 game with the Phillies on top. Spencer Turnbull would be removed in the fifth inning after being taken deep by Oneil Cruz, putting the Pirates in front. Alec Bohm would knot us up at three in the seventh with an RBI single to score Kyle Schwarber. In the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies got exactly what they needed: Kyle Schwarber led things off with a single, then Trea Turner worked a walk. After Bryce Harper went down swinging, the game was put into the hands of the slumping Nick Castellanos. And in what will hopefully be seen as the moment that broke this early season slump, Castellanos walked us off in the ninth with a game winning single to score Whit Merrifield, pinch running for Schwarber.
Game 4
For each team, a battle of their aces—Mitch Keller would face Zack Wheeler as the Phillies gunned for a series win. Trea Turner cracked his first home run of the season with a 408-foot missile to left field that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the third inning. The Pirates would strike back a half inning later as Andrew McCutchen scored on a wild throw to second base from J.T. Realmuto. Interestingly enough, instead of this being ruled an error on Realmuto, it was ruled that McCutchen stole home. Turner would continue his great day, scoring Johan Rojas with an RBI single to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. This is, unfortunately, where the wheels fell of the bus. Jack Suwinski would take Zack Wheeler deep, with a 402-foot grand slam to give the Pirates a 5-2 lead, and the Phillies simply never recovered. Joey Bart would tally a line drive home run moments later to make it 6-2 Pirates. On the bright side, Orion Kerkering returned to throw a scoreless inning in the seventh to further bolster the Phillies’ bullpen. Ricardo Pinto would continue his struggles, allowing a run in the eighth to make it 7-2, and being taken deep by Andrew McCutchen to make it 9-2. That homerun put Cutch over the wall to join the 300-home run club. The Phillies got smacked down in a 9-2 loss, as the Pirates salvaged a series split.
The Phillies went into the series 6-6 and leave 8-8, so, on paper, not much has changed. Given how hot the Pirates are to start this season, a series split isn’t a bad result for the Phillie,s especially when you look at the team’s next 6 games: three against the Colorado Rockies and three against the Chicago White Sox. That, at the bare minimum, should be four wins and could easily be five or six. They’ll need to capitalize because after that, their schedule will become much tougher with Cincinnati, San Diego, San Francisco, and Toronto as four of their next five opponents.
Use code PHILLYSPORTSREPORT for $20 off your first SeatGeek order
Click here to save 10% on any order at FOCO
