Phillies Lose To Padres 5-4 In Back-And-Forth Contest
Jul 12, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) slides into third base during the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images
It’s back-to-back series losses for the Phillies going into the break.
After dropping the first game of the final series before the All-Star break, the Phillies battled with the San Diego Padres but were unable to pick up a win, losing 5-4. Despite four runs, the offense struggled once again with runners in scoring position, going 3-for-13 in the loss.
Zack Wheeler was on the mound coming off quite possibly his greatest start as a Phillie; however, this start was far from the one we witnessed last weekend. While it wasn’t a terrible start, Wheeler pitched six innings, struck out just five, and allowed four earned runs, three coming off the bat of Jackson Merrill‘s two home runs. It’s only the fourth time this year Wheeler has allowed four earned runs or more.
While the bats eventually got going, the first inning didn’t see much traction from Philadelphia. Trea Turner grounded out and Kyle Schwarber walked, but another groundout, this time from Bryce Harper, resulted in an inning-ending double play. Wheeler picked up a pair of groundouts of his own in the bottom half of the first, sending San Diego down in order.
In the top of the second, Alec Bohm led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch and advanced to second base on a wild pitch by Yu Darvish. Nick Castellanos then lined a ball back up the middle off the glove of Darvish for a single, and an errant throw by Darvish allowed Bohm to score to make it 1-0. After a lineout by Bryson Stott, J.T. Realmuto lined a double into the gap, scoring Castellanos to double the Phillies’ lead to two.
However, in the bottom half of the inning, the Padres took the lead.
Gavin Sheets led off the inning with a double to right, and Merrill lifted a home run to left to tie the game at two. The damage didn’t stop there as Jake Cronenworth lined a double right-center and Martin Maldonado ripped a single to right to make it 3-2 Padres.
In the third, Turner struck out and Schwarber grounded out, Harper ripped a double down the right field line, but a weak ground out by Bohm ended any chance of tying the game in that inning. Wheeler hit Luis Arraez and walked Xander Bogaerts, but got a pair of strikeouts from Merrill and Manny Machado to get out of the jam.
The Phillies went down in order in the fourth, and Wheeler worked around a single in the bottom half of the inning to keep the deficit at one. In the fifth, the Phillies retook the lead.
Max Kepler worked a walk to lead off the inning, and Brandon Marsh smacked a single to left to put two runners on with no outs. Turner was up next but flew out, and a Schwarber strikeout gave the Phillies two quick outs. Harper then worked a walk to load the bases, and up came Edmundo Sosa, who came in the previous inning for Bohm for what was assumed to be some type of injury from the hit by pitch he took earlier.
With the bases loaded, Sosa smacked a single to left, scoring two runs to make it 4-3 Phillies, sending Darvish to the showers after only 4.2 innings of work. Castellanos was up next, but a flyout to center ended the inning. San Diego went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, and the Phillies followed suit in the sixth after an inning-ending double play from Max Kepler.
Wheeler came back out for the sixth at 91 pitches, and quickly got Bogaerts to ground out, but Merrill stepped up and smoked a solo shot for his second home run of the game to tie the game at four. With the home run, Merrill became the first player to homer off Wheeler twice in one game since Buster Posey in 2021. After the home run, Wheeler locked back in, getting Cronenworth to ground out and Trenton Brooks to fly out to end the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Turner doubled with one out to put a runner in scoring position for Schwarber and Harper. Schwarber grounded a ball over to second to move Turner to third, but Harper was walked to put runners on the corners for Sosa. Sosa hit a soft grounder to third, and Machado made a fantastic throw to first to get Sosa out and keep the game tied.
Tanner Banks came on in relief for Wheeler in the seventh, but things did not go his way. Banks got Maldonado to strike out, but back-to-back singles by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Arraez put runners on the corners for Machado. Three batters were all Banks was allowed to face as he was pulled for Jordan Romano. With Romano in, Machado lifted a long fly ball to left, allowing Tatis to score from third, giving the Padres a 5-4 lead.
Castellanos and Stott both went down on two pitches, but Realmuto singled to put a runner on. The Padres made a pitching change, bringing Yuki Matsui in, and Otto Kemp stepped up to the plate, pinch-hitting for Kepler. Kemp battled and lined a single to right to put runners on the corners for Marsh. Marsh stepped in but popped out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Padres went down in order in their half of the eighth, but the Phillies had the top of the order up for the ninth down a run. Turner led off but went down on strikes, and Schwarber just missed a home run for the second out. Harper then stepped in with two outs being the last chance for the Phillies, and on the first pitch grounded out to first to end the game, losing 5-4.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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