Phillies drop a second consecutive series with a 7-0 loss to the Cardinals
Apr 13, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) throws in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images
The Philadelphia Phillies finished their series against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 7–0 loss on Sunday, dropping their season record to 9–6. The defeat highlighted ongoing challenges for the Phillies, particularly in offensive consistency and bullpen reliability. While it’s hardly time to panic, the challenges the Phillies have struggled with this season were all on full display in this series. Particularly the offensive struggles of Alec Bohm, who has been hitting .069 over the last 7 games and .150 for the season, and Brandon Marsh, who’s 0 for his last 17, and has honestly looked lost at the plate.
The Phillies’ starting pitching has started fairly well, at least well enough to be in more games than they have been, but defensive lapses and a porous bullpen have consistently let down the Phillies’ starters this season.
The offensive struggles continued on Sunday, with Cardinals pitcher Matthew Liberatore holding the Phillies scoreless, scattering three hits and a walk over six shutout innings. Most importantly, he never looked out of control once, and no Phillies hitter was on base more than once in this game, punctuating how in control the Cardinals’ pitching was in this game. Liberatore was dealing, and when he departed, Phil Maton, JoJo Romero, and Kyle Leahy dominated Phillies hitting. There was no break in the dominance once the Cardinals went to the bullpen.
In the top of the second, the Phillies wasted a golden opportunity when they had 2 runners in scoring position with one out, thanks to this Houdini-inspired slide into second from Edmundo Sosa.
Phillies starter Zach Wheeler started off well until the 4th when Nolan Arenado hit a screaming single, and then Willson Contreras hit a no-doubt home run — a 96 MPH fastball on the inside corner, and Contreras turned on it, giving the Cardinals the lead.
In the bottom of the 6th, he dropped an RBI double just off the line in left, scoring Arenado in the process.
Just to add on, in the bottom of the 8th, Jordan Walker hit a line drive home run off of Carlos Hernandez to seal the game.
Final Thoughts
After losing a series in Atlanta to a division rival who has started off falling well under expectations, and now losing another series, much of the optimism earned from winning the series against the Dodgers is on life support currently. The offensive inconsistency over the last 6 games has been a concerning trend, especially from the aforementioned Bohm and Marsh. This, in addition to the bullpen’s inconsistencies, is a huge cause for concern, with one of baseball’s biggest surprises, the San Francisco Giants, coming into town for four games, the Phillies can’t afford to lose another series.
The Phillies will also need to play fundamentally sound baseball and limit mental mistakes to take down the visiting Giants.
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Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
