Cold as Ice: Phillies’ RISP Woes, Nola’s Inconsistencies Hurt, Giants Take Crucial Game on a Frigid Night
Apr 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola (27) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
This series has had the tone of a playoff atmosphere, the only real giveaway that we’re watching April baseball is the cold weather, with the temperature at first pitch hovering around 50 degrees with swirling wind, typically low-scoring weather.
Both teams had something to prove coming into this series — the Giants have to prove to the baseball world that they are for real, and are as good as their record says, and the Phillies need to prove that they are better than their record. Splitting the series going into tonight’s game seemed fitting. The Giants are putting the pedal to the metal in game one, and the Phillies are taking game two with a huge night from Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto, each with a home run and 2 RBI. It felt like they played Phillies baseball last night.
Tonight, Aaron Nola took the mound, trying to turn things around, against a team that he has posted a career 6.58 ERA, though he has some pretty good success against the current Giants, with the exception of Wilmer Flores, who is 4-13 with a home run in his career against Nola. Not many home runs have been given up to the current Giants, which has truly been the crux of Nola’s struggles in this young season.
After retiring Mike Yastrzemski on one pitch, Willy Adames came up, bringing his 0-16 with 9 strikeouts against Nola to the plate with him, so naturally he hit a bullet double to left, Jung Hoo Lee hit a solid single over Edmundo Sosa, scoring Adames, then Matt Chapman moved the line along with a single, Heliot Ramos walked after a battle, loading the bases. Flores came up with the bases loaded, and the longtime Phillies nemesis who always seems to get that big hit in Philly, walked, bringing in the second run. Patrick Bailey rounded out the scoring in the first with a squibb shot off the end of the bat that danced away from Trea Turner, plating 2 runs. Nola had the Phillies in a 4-0 hole before they even had their first at-bat.
When the Phillies came up, Turner singled, then Giants starter Robbie Ray seemed to lose the strike zone, walking Harper and Kyle Schwarber to load the bases. With Nick Castellanos coming to the plate, there was life at Citizens Bank Park, and anticlimactically, the Phillies’ most consistent hitter this season flied out to short right. Realmuto walked, bringing in the first run for the Phils, as Ray looked just as lost and frustrated as Nola in the first. He did come back to punch out Alec Bohm, but then this season’s best story so far, Edmundo Sosa, drew out a walk, and a second run came across to score, making the Phillies counter-punch feel effective, even if it was standing back and letting Ray punch himself. He limited the damage in the first, only letting across 2. The Phillies, like the Giants, left the bases loaded in the first.
Both starters would settle in with Nola getting a better feel for his knuckle curve, throwing it more efficiently and with a higher spin rate, in the first two innings, his spin rate on the knuckle curve was at about 2400 RPM, but after the second inning he was hovering at about 2550 RPM, which is closer to his normal spin rate for his knuckle curve. In fairness, Ray’s spin rate was also down about 10% on his pitches as well. Suggesting that the cold weather was affecting both pitchers early on, for Nola, it was flatter pitches, and for Ray, it was a lack of control.
The two teams traded light threats until the bottom of the fourth, when Johan Rojas shot a double to the wall and Harper came up, depositing the first pitch he saw, a flat slider on the inside part of the plate, into the right field seats for a 2-run home run, tying the game.
That happiness was short lived, because in the next half inning the Giants came up and what seems to be a common sight this season, Lee hit a double to right, and Chapman singled, and since Rojas was playing shallow, Giants third base coach Matt Williams held up Lee, but Rojas uncorked a wild throw that went into the Giants dugout, scoring Lee and the go-ahead run. Another mental mistake from Rojas ends up costing the Phillies the lead. This time, Nola was able to dance out of the trouble, but not before another Rojas blunder cost a Phillies starter a run in a critical situation.
Fast forward to the 6th inning, surprisingly Nola went back out, got the first out, but then his feel for the strike zone betrayed him, walking Patrick Bailey, then giving up a single to Tyler Fitzgerald, and walking Yastrzemski, loading the bases. Jose Ruiz came in and promptly walked Adames, scoring a run. Lee hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Fitzgerald, and making the score 7-4. Chapman flew out to Rojas to end the inning.
Brandon Marsh came in to pinch hit for Rojas, and Giants reliever Lou Trivino diced him up, making him look pretty silly in the process. Turner struck out, but the normally sure-handed Giants catcher Bailey dropped the third strike and threw a sinker to Lamonte Wade Jr that he couldn’t handle, gifting Turner first base. Harper hit a knuckeball single into left, and the Phillies had something going. But Schwarber flew out and then Castellanos grounded out, continuing the Phillies’ woes with hitting with runners in scoring position, hitting under .200 for the season coming into this game. Tonight, the only hit with a runner in the scoring position was on Harper’s home run, as they were 1-9 with RISP.
Joe Ross gave up quite a bit of traffic on the bases, including a single in front of Marsh who just came into the game in center, off the bat of Flores, Ramos scored, Fitzgerald doubled, scoring Wade Jr, Yastrzremski doubled scoring Flores and Fitzgerald, and in the blink of an eye, the Giants jumped out to an 11-4 lead. While the Phillies struggle to get the clutch hit, the Giants, on the other hand, were 6-14 with RISP. This was the end of the scoring, and the teams cruised into the locker rooms with the temperature dropping into the 40s, and after 2 listless at-bats, Brandon Marsh‘s season average dropped to .095. Not sure who was colder — the fans that stuck around or Marsh’s bat.
One of the hallmarks of those Phillies playoff teams of the past was clutch hitting. Early indications are that this team doesn’t have the same clutch gene, and without a huge player turnover, this failure lands on the shoulders of hitting coaches Kevin Long, Dustin Lind, and Rafael Pena. Ultimately, this is the responsibility of Rob Thomson, and even though the Phils are a veteran team, there are enough players who look absolutely confused at the plate to necessitate a re-evaluation of watching video and cage time.
The positive is that Harper continued to hit the ball well against the Giants and seems to have found his swing in this series. The Phillies really need an extended stretch of hot-hitting Harper, not just tomorrow to salvage a split, but moving forward as well. Right now, the Mets are not playing much better, only one game ahead of the Phillies. This is the time to move ahead of the Mets and put some space between them. The RISP and lack of hard contact are holding the Phils back.
The RISP is a trend that needs to be addressed at once if the Phillies want to get out of this offensive funk the team has been in since Atlanta.
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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.
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