Phillies Drop Their Fourth Straight Series with Aggravating Loss to Marlins

The Phillies offense completely disappeared in the second game of this series, dropping a heartbreaker 1-0 on a game where the Phillies pitching and defense played incredibly well. This was Game 108 on the season, and the Phillies still have yet to stack a few complete wins all season.

The road trip started strangely, with an extremely rare ninth-inning rally from the Marlins off of closer Jhoan Duran. The Phils would do their best to leave that in the past and try to go forward. They would have to do so without Kyle Schwarber, who missed Tuesday night’s game with an illness.

The Marlins didn’t wait long to capitalize on a mistake; Kyle Stowers took a mistake breaking ball that was center cut and didn’t have much break, and deposited it over the wall for a home run to take an early lead. This was the extent of all of the scoring in the game. The Phils had their chances, but the game ended 1-0, the ninth time this team has been shut out this season.

Nola Bounces Back in Solid Outing

The Phillies haven’t been able to count on five solid innings from Aaron Nola this season, but in this game, Nola pitched well up until the sixth inning, when he ran out of gas, but Tim Mayza came in to pick him up to close out the sixth. He really pitched well into the sixth, keeping the Phillies in the game despite the early mistake to Stowers. This was a very good, optimistic look for the Phils, who needed a great performance from the pitchers to have a chance in this game.

What made this outing for Nola better than the rest was the fact that he didn’t have back-to-back innings where he truly labored. In the third, he had a 23-pitch inning, but he followed it up in the fourth with a six-pitch inning. The reason he didn’t struggle as much was that he kept the ball low and used the sinker off of the changeup masterfully. This is a start that Nola can build on to come down the stretch strong.

Phillies Offense Completely Blanked in Miami

The Phillies offense had a frustrating day at the office in this game. They were hitting the ball very well off of Sandy Alcantara, but had very little to show for it.

Leading off the top of the third, Bryce Harper hit a hard line drive to left-center that, off the bat, looked like it split the outfielders and the Phils would get something going. However, Marlins center fielder Jakob Marsee got on his horse and made a highlight reel catch. Harper went from thinking he was starting off the inning strong to walking back to the dugout frustrated.

This was the theme of the night for the Phils offense all game. They did have several opportunities all game with runners in scoring position, but went 0-5 in those opportunities. This is something that has been an issue all season, but in a game like this one, it’s imperative that they scratched across a run in any way that they could have.

The Phillies had the best record in baseball this season in one-run games, but with this loss, they have lost back-to-back one-run games. This was the third 1-0 loss of the season for the Phils, where last season they only had one.

Phillies Lose Fourth Straight Series Out of All-Star Break

If you looked at this game based on the recent history of the team, the thing that would have scared you was that Nola was starting. But in this game, it was the most recent cause for concern, which is that the offense has been abysmal at driving in runs since before the All-Star break.

With this loss, the Phils have lost their fourth straight series since the break. While the issue lately has been largely the offense not driving in runs well enough, the bigger cause for concern has been the fundamental play, which is base running mistakes, but is mostly defensive play in the field.

The Phillies played well, and the defense was more like what they should have been. Many players were playing out of position, with Alec Bohm playing at first and Edmundo Sosa at third with Harper designated hitting, but they all played incredibly well.

Something has to give on this road trip if they have any desire to make it to the playoffs at all. They are 3-8 since the break, and while it’s concerning that they are losing ground to the Atlanta Braves, their lead in the Wild Card is quickly dwindling, only 1.5 games over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jesus Luzardo will take the mound against his former team in the series finale, trying to salvage a win in this series in a day game.

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