Phillies Drop Second Game In A Row To Mariners As Offense Struggles Again

The West Coast trip has not gotten off to the start the Phillies hoped it would.

August has been a very successful month for the Philadelphia Phillies, as through the first three weeks, the team went an outstanding 16-5, including rattling off nine consecutive wins to keep themselves in the race for the top seed in the National League East.

However, to close out the month, they had the tall task of nine consecutive road games in the pacfifc time zone out west, and to open up that trip, they had a date with the Seattle Mariners. Game 1 saw the Phillies’ veteran ace Zack Wheeler continue his recent stretch of struggles on the mound, giving up a career-high eight earned runs in a blowout loss.

Game 2 once again saw a matchup between two former All-Stars, George Kirby and Aaron Nola, and through the first two-thirds of the game it was a true pitcher’s duel between the starters. However, a late-inning spurt from Seattle extended their small lead, and the Phillies were unable to answer back, losing 4-1 for their first series loss in two weeks.

What didn’t help was the fact that the Phillies totaled just six hits on the night, with five of the six hits coming in the first three innings of the game. Kirby retired 16 Phillies in a row, sending them down in order from the fourth through the seventh inning. Once he was pulled, the Mariners bullpen, with ease, picked up the remaining outs without a worry to secure the series win.

While he took the loss, Aaron Nola was once again outstanding for the Phillies, tossing six innings of two-run ball and allowing only three hits. Nola struck out seven, which is the fourth consecutive start where he’s struck out seven batters or more, the first time he’s done that since September 2024. He has a 2.00 ERA with 24 strikeouts over his last three starts and a 2.60 ERA over his last six starts.

It looked like Nola was going to get instant run support from Philadelphia in the top of the first, as after Bryce Harper singled to right to extend his on-base streak to 28 games, Luis Arraez lifted a ball deep to right field, but was caught at the wall by Dominic Canzone to end the inning.

Nola worked through a quick bottom half of the first thanks to a pair of lineouts. In the second, the Phillies offense got a rally going on the basepaths with back-to-back-to-back singles from Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford, with Crawford’s single scoring Stott for the first run of the game.

One run was all the Phillies would score, but that lead was short-lived as Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh dug in for his first at-bat of the evening. Raleigh, who homered in three straight at-bats in the previous ballgame, decided to keep that streak going, sending a liner down the right-field line for a solo home run to tie the game.

Nola was able to shake off that homer with a pair of strikeouts to get out of the inning, but following a single from Arraez in the top of the third, the Phillies offense would shut down for the entirety of the middle of the game.

The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings were all 1-2-3 from the Phillies, with multiple of the innings taking less than 10 pitches to complete; Kirby’s pitch remained in a great spot through those innings due to the aggressiveness from Philadelphia.

Thankfully for the Phillies’ terrible offense, Nola was cruising through those innings as well, but in the sixth, an infield single and stolen base from Julio Rodriguez put the second runner in scoring position of the night for Seattle. Josh Naylor, who was without a hit after recording three the previous night, smoked a single to center, scoring Rodriguez and giving Seattle a 2-1 lead.

Following that inning, Nola was pulled, and the Phillies bullpen did no help to keep the game close. Orion Kerkering loaded the bases after a hit by pitch, single, and walk, and Brooks Raley came off to relieve him. Raley, of course, allowed a single to center, scoring two and doubling the Mariners’ lead.

With just six outs left to make some magic again, the Phillies didn’t make that happen in the eighth, and in the ninth, despite working two walks on and bringing the tying run to the plate, pinch-hitter Bryan De La Cruz struck out to end the ballgame, with the Phillies suffering their second straight loss.

In that inning, both De La Cruz and Stott struck out, marking the first time since August 10 that the Phillies had double-digit strikeouts as a team, finishing with 11 in the 4-1 loss.

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