Phillies Fail to Capitalize on Solid Painter Start, Drop Series Rubber Match to Cleveland 3-1

The Phillies dropped their series rubber match against the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon, 3-1. The Phillies are going through another skid that is affecting most of the roster. Several issues that stifled them throughout their brutal 10-game losing streak are returning.

The return of those issues has led Philly to drop their second consecutive series and end their homestand a measly 2-4. The Phillies are now once again below .500 with a record of 26-27.

Painter Continues To Bounce Back

The lone positive throughout the Cleveland series was how well the starting pitching was. Cristopher Sanchez opened up the series on Friday with 8 shutout innings, and Zack Wheeler dazzled in his Saturday start, continuing to show that the dominant ace is not gone. The Phillies entered Sunday afternoon with a hope-filled question: could rookie Andrew Painter continue the resurgence he has started in his two starts leading up to Sunday?

The answer to that question was yes. Painter was great in his start, keeping the Phillies in the game. He pitched into the 7th and kept the Guardians’ offense at bay for the most part. He was solid after letting men on base, showing a maintained confidence in his pitches even when the Guardians got on base. While he did get tagged a couple of times throughout the day, an RBI single from Steven Kwan in the 5th, and an RBI double by former Phillie Rhys Hoskins in the 6th, those did not stop him from having a good day.

Even with those two moments, Painter continued to get outs and power through any issues. Showing enough efficiency in his work to keep manager Don Mattingly‘s confidence in Painter. That confidence led Painter to have one of his best lines of the season, even with a lack of strikeouts. That line was 6.1 innings pitched, 2 runs allowed on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3 Guardians. Painter has pitched to an ERA of 2.60 over his last 3 starts. The rookie is beginning to make adjustments to his game and show the talent that made him such a highly touted prospect.

Offense Continues To Be Stuck In Mud

It has been no secret that the key to whether the Phillies go through a good or bad stretch of games is whether the offense is clicking. Unfortunately, this home stand, especially the 3 games against the Guardians, the offense was not clicking.

The lineup struggled through all three games with the same issues, leading to failure to capitalize on the good starting pitching. The same issues that plagued the Phillies’ lineup earlier in the season returned and have caused major concerns for how the team will perform during their upcoming road trip.

Those issues were consistently chasing pitches out of the zone, expanding the zone that Cleveland pitchers, pitchers the Phillies are not used to seeing, could throw around. This led to quick at-bats that ended in outs, weak contact, if made at all, and an overall lack of fear being put into the minds of Cleveland’s pitchers.

The other issue that plagued the Phillies throughout the home stand, especially the Cleveland series, was how horrendous the lineup was with runners in scoring position. For the whole series, the lineup went a brutal 1-17 with runners on.

It’s no secret that this lineup lives on the long ball, but the issues of having a hitting strategy like that are made clear when the home run hitters struggle to put the ball over the fence, and the rest of the lineup can’t step up and produce runs. That issue was made painfully clear with the lineup consistently struggling to put runners across the plate and string together multiple hits against the Guardians’ pitching.

The lineup was the clear issue throughout the series, taking away what could have been a momentous series in showing how dangerous the Phillies can be when the rotation and lineup are clicking. Now, the question remains about whether the lineup can actually click against higher-level teams like the Guardians and the teams that the Phillies will face on their upcoming road trip.

Make Or Break Test Ahead

With the lineup struggling so much, the upcoming road trip is very important. The Phillies head out west for a 6-game road trip against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers — two teams that are known for their pitching and are among the top teams in the League this season.

It was known that the Phillies had an important stretch of series against solid teams. They leave the home stand on the wrong side of whether the team can perform against high-level teams the way they did against lower-level teams during the hot streak the team went on earlier in the month of May.

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