Inconsistent Gibson, Phils trampled by Cubs
PHILADELPHIA » The Phillies will soon be dipping into the trade market to shore up a team on the cusp of the playoff picture, perhaps to find help for their starting rotation.
Before they ponder what prospects to jettison, they might want to evaluate just how well their last starting pitcher deadline buy worked out.
Kyle Gibson has by turns this season been very good and quite terrible. Friday’s 15-2 loss to the bottom-feeding Chicago Cubs was very clearly in the latter category. Gibson’s night: 4.1 innings, six earned runs, three walks and no strikeouts. And while it spiraled out of control after his exit, the calming veteran in the Phillies’ rotation didn’t do anything to calm the Chicago bats.
Gibson has spent just about a full year in Philadelphia, still somehow less ill-fated than the headliner in the Ian Kennedy trade with Texas last July 30. In 31 starts, he’s gone 9-10 with a 4.85 ERA.
It would be more meh if it weren’t for Gibson’s tendency toward alternating between great and awful outings. His previous two? Tremendous — six innings of one-run ball at Miami, seven innings of two-hit shutout stuff in St. Louis. The one before that? Four first-inning home runs allowed to the Cardinals on July 2. He could go eight innings allowing just one run against the Marlins (June 15) or fail to escape the third (June 26 at San Diego).
For a 34-year-old veteran of 10 MLB seasons, a one-time All-Star and career middle-ofthe-rotation stalwart, you’d think the book on Gibson would be knowing what to
expect in each start. Instead, any semblance of consistency has been nonexistent.
It wasn’t all on Gibson Friday night, and the game didn’t get unsightly until long after he’d hit the showers.
It all collapsed on the Phillies in the fifth, though the seeds were sown earlier. Rhys Hoskins doubled to lead off the top of the third, a prime chance to compound a 1-0 lead furnished by Kyle Schwarber sending the first pitch of the game to the stands for his 30th home run of the season. But the Phillies couldn’t get Hoskins in, leaving the bases loaded when Didi Gregorius grounded out.
Willson Contreras promptly tied the game to lead off the top of the fourth with a solo home run. The Phillies wouldn’t score again until Darick Hall mashed his fifth home run to deep center with two outs in the ninth. The damage had been done before that many times over.
The fifth led off with Gibson walking eight-hitter Alfonso Rivas. When Christopher Morel doubled to left, third-base coach Willie Harris waved Rivas home, which led to Hoskins cutting off a
weak Gregorius throw to try to nail Morel at second with center fielder Matt Vierling racing in to cover.
Rivas, who should’ve been out with even passable arm strength from the Schwarber-Gregorius leftfielder-shortstop combo, slid home safely as Hoskins’ throw sailed past Vierling and into a vacant outfield. Morel could’ve waited for the next Broad St. Line train and still scored.
A walk and an infield single allowed Ian Happ to drive home a run, chasing Gibson. Jeurys Familia, in what might be his final appearances as a Phillie, allowed scorched doubles by Nico Hoerner and Patrick Wisdom to make it 7-1.
Chicago continued to pour it on, thanks to a pair of home runs by Nelson Velazquez, who entered in the eighth as a pinch-hitter. He clubbed a two-run bomb to center off JoJo Romero in the eighth, then a three-run job off Garrett Stubbs (yup, we’re doing that) to left in the ninth. Stubbs also gave up a tworun jack to Seiya Suzuki but induced a double play to keep his ERA at a robust 27.00.