Phillies Pitching Falters Again, Fall 10-3 to Mets

Now seven games into this nine-game road trip, the final road trip of the year, it can simply be stated that every aspect of the Phillies is struggling at the moment. The offense has lacked big run production, scoring only three runs in five consecutive games. The rotation has been up and down, with some good games and some bad ones. The bullpen has been atrocious, to say the least.

All this culminated in a blowout 10-3 loss to the New York Mets Saturday night, a blowout where each aspect of the team was completely outperformed by New York. It is the fifth straight game the Phillies scored exactly three runs.

The frustration begins with Andrew Painter. Now, Painter was not the end-all-be-all in determining the outcome of the game. By game’s end, his performance ended up being very small in what the issues were. However, he still had issues.

It was a bit of a tale of two halves for Painter. For most of the game, he was very solid, hitting most of his spots, performing very efficiently, keeping the offense in the game. Painter pitched into the sixth inning, and entering the fifth, this solid performance was Painter’s tale — outperforming his fellow Calvary Christian Academy alum Christian Scott, who was taken out during the top half of the fifth.

Painter’s lone blemish heading into the fifth was an attempted low-and-outside changeup to Carson Benge that ended up running inside and sent into the right field bleachers in the second inning. The fifth is where things changed for Painter and ended up being where things turned for the Phillies.

A leadoff walk, single, then a Francisco Alvarez three-run blast turned a 3-1 Phillies lead quickly into a 4-3 Mets lead. Painter struck out the next three batters afterwards, but the damage was done.

Painter struck out Bo Bichette to begin the sixth and then was promptly taken out, a decision that ended up biting the Phils as the Mets took a 6-3 lead afterwards before the inning closed. But Painter’s night was done before that damage, throwing 5.1 innings while striking out seven, but allowing four runs on four hits and two walks.

The issue for Painter was once again a quality-of-strikes issue. When he does not have his command at times, which was his issue in the fifth and that Benge solo blast, it has become more so that he’s able to throw strikes, but the strikes are not good; they are easily hittable. It is an issue dealt with before, most recently the Houston game where he gave up a career-high 10 hits. Once again it reared its ugly head and bit the Phils.

After Painter got it out, there was no sigh of relief; instead, the Phillies got bludgeoned the rest of the way. Two runs were given up by Brooks Raley, who continues to struggle in a Phillies uniform. He was not the only one, as Orion Kerkering continues his nightmare of a second half, giving up four runs and putting the game completely out of reach.

The bullpen has no doubt been the key issue since the month of September began. Completely unreliable and causing every latter half of a game to be an anxiety-filled win or a head-banging loss. For the Phillies to have any confidence entering October, the bullpen is going to have to take a complete 180.

Christopher DeMaio

Christopher DeMaio is a Delaware County Native, graduate of Devon Preparatory School (class of 2025). He is currently attending Franciscan University and is in his sophomore year. Chris, growing up playing baseball since the age of 4, fell in love with his hometown Phillies and continues that love by listening to sports radio, reading articles, and writing for the Philly Sports Reports Phillies team.

Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox: