Phillies Bullpen Woes Continue, Lose to Tigers 10-2

The Phillies began the final series of the first half Friday night against the Detroit Tigers. Arriving at the first half’s finale, it is time for teams to step back, assess the issues, and make proper plans for the second half of the year and, very importantly, the trade deadline. For the Phillies on Friday night, they got a clear example of an issue that needs to be addressed.

It has become no secret over the course of the season thus far that a major spot for Dave Dombrowski to improve at the trade deadline is the bullpen. The bullpen has a couple of good arms, such as All-Star closer Jhoan Duran and typically reliable setup man Orion Kerkering. Outside of that and a small arm or two, the pen has not been good. Friday night against the Detroit Tigers was additional evidence of this issue.

Friday’s game began and went five innings at a stalemate, tied up at a piece heading into the bottom half of the season. The Phillies bullpen then allowed eight runs over the course of the sixth and seventh innings, turning what was a close affair into a grueling blowout, dropping the first game of the first half finale 10-2.

Heading into the ballgame, there were weary expectations that the game could be a night of offensive explosions. The Phillies would battle against Jack Flaherty, who entered the game with an ERA well into the fours. The Tigers went up against Aaron Nola, who, while coming off a lengthy and solid start against the Kansas City Royals, allowing three runs in seven innings of work, is most certainly a common candidate for a blowup start.

What ended up happening between the two starters was a mild pitching duel. Each only allowed two runs in their outings. Nola continues to look fairly decent, Friday night working his knuckle-curve and changeup to keep hitters off balance and putting hitters away with it. On the night Nola tossed eight strikeouts, five of which came from the curve, two from the changeup, sneaking one in with a four-seam, even striking out the side in the fourth inning.

Nola has shown on this road trip that the former first-round ace for the Phillies is still in there, even though he is no longer the iron man workhorse of past seasons, he can still get the job done at times.

A quiet storyline for the Phillies on Friday night was the success of Derek Hill, only in the lineup Friday due to Justin Crawford being scratched from the lineup with a knee issue. To say the least, Hill has been a revelation for the Phillies this year. Batting well over .300 since joining the Phillies in June, being traded over from the Chicago White Sox.

The offense struggled to plate runs as a whole. Derek Hill was the one to plate both runs.

In his first at-bat of the night, he smacked a go-ahead solo home run to one of the deepest parts of Detroit’s ballpark in left-center to make the game 1-0. Hill then came up with a chance to continue the success he’s had in the clutch so far in his Phillies tenure, coming up to bat with two outs and the bases loaded in the top half of the fourth and the Phillies down 2-1. The moment was not too much for Hill, as he sent a game-tying single into left field, and what felt like a major momentum shift that could have been a major factor for later on in the game until the Phillies bullpen got involved.

Hill ended his evening 3-4 with two RBIs. He and Nola were the two bright spots for the Phillies Friday night, a Friday night that showed that the Phillies are ready for the break.

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