Phils settle for split with Yankees
PHILADELPHIA » In the face of a global pandemic, bullpen woes might not seem the most pressing. But Wednesday night, with the Phillies back on the field and their latest brush with COVID-19 behind them, it was time to again lament the slow-motion disaster that Matt Klentak had assembled behind the Citizens Bank Park fence.
In both games of a doubleheader with the Yankees, where seven innings offered less chance for the bullpen to do its worst, Phillies’ starters put together six strong innings each. Then the bullpen allowed at least as many hits as the starters in just the three outs they were uneasily tasked with getting.
It didn’t cost the Phillies in Game 1, thanks to an eight-run cushion before the bullpen stunk the place up. There was no cover in the nightcap when Tommy Hunter retired precisely none of the five batters he faced in a 3-1 Phillies loss.
“We had a quick spring training and then you have basically a seven-day layoff where no one really pitches,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I think it’s hard to really evaluate what you’re getting moving forward. … They just haven’t gotten consistent work and they’re playing teams that are playing every day.”
Even with an eight-run lead in Game 1, it still took three Phillies relievers to get the final three outs, allowing six hits after Zack Wheeler had allowed six in his six innings (87 pitches) on the bump.
First contestant in the bullpen wheel of misfortune: Austin Davis, who entered to face the bottom of the Yankees order and gave up four hits to five batters, culminating with an Aaron Judge threerun homer to left that Andrew McCutchen barely flinched at. He made an 11-3 game an 11-7 affair within 25 pitches.
It required some creative umpiring from Angel Hernandez to bail out Trevor Kelley, who gave up back-to-back singles, then struck out Mike Ford on an iffy checkswing and a borderline called third strike that got third-base coach Phil Nevin ejected for a vituperative protest. Hector Neris needed one pitch to get the 21st out, a flyout by Miguel Andujar, for his first save of the season.
Aaron Nola tied a career high with 12 strikeouts in six innings in the nightcap, scattering three hits and walking none, the only blemish a Luke Voit solo homer in the second. Girardi called the outing, “as good as I’ve seen him pitch.” But after 88 pitches, he was done, in the name of early-season safety.
He bequeathed a 1-1 game to Tommy Hunter, who promptly allowed a single, single, RBI double to Mike Tauchman, hit by pitch and another single before Girardi ended the collective misery.
Part of the problem in the nightcap is that Girardi didn’t have
Neris, who would’ve gotten the nod, because of his need to close out Game 1. Adam Morgan retired all three batters he faced, but the damage had been irrevocably done.
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The sample size was small, but then so is the time left to rectify it. The Phillies entered Wednesday having played just four games, due largely to factors outside their control. But in 36 innings, they’d posted just two crooked numbers and one win, hardly the stuff of topto-bottom lineup depth that they’d boasted in the regular season.
Wednesday, the lineup finally got untracked, batting around twice in Game 1.
Before Wednesday, the Phillies had posted three runs in the seventh inning of the July 25 win over the Miami Marlins, cashing in a sterling debut by Wheeler. They began that Sunday’s viral matinee with a four-spot in the first, still not enough for Vince Velasquez to even reach the fourth.
Wednesday, they turned the tables, trailing 3-0 after three innings at Citizens Bank Park. As Wheeler settled in, the bats got going. They got a sizeable assist from two Yankees errors and ex-Phillie JA (which Wednesday stood for “Just Awful”) Happ, who walked six in three innings and threw fewer than half of his pitches for strikes (32 of 66).
The Phillies teed off in the way they’d talked about all preseason. Bryce Harper mashed an 0-2 sinker that did anything but sink into the stands in left center in the third. Phil Gosselin, he of the .625 batting average, walked in a run, and Roman Quinn beat out a double play ball to make it 4-3 Phillies after three innings.
Eleven Phillies batted in the sixth. Rhys Hoskins shook off a slow start with an RBI single. J.T. Realmuto, who roped a solo homer in the fifth, and Scott Kingery drove in runs with singles, as did Didi Gregorius in beating out an infield bleeder.