The Phillies finish their past week of baseball with a 2-5 record over 7 games. They lost 2 of 3 to the Marlins at home and lost 3 of 4 to the Braves at home. Over the 7 games for the week, they were outscored by opponents 36-38. It is hard not to look at a 2-5 at home as a disappointment, especially when all five losses were by 3 runs or less.
The Phillies are 4-6 in their last 10 games and remain in 2nd place in the NL East with a 79-67 record. They are 17 games behind the Braves and 4 games ahead of the Marlins. They are currently alone in the first Wild Card position with a 1.5 game lead over the Cubs and a 3.5 game lead over the Reds and Diamondbacks. The Phillies will look to secure their Wild Card berth this week as they go on the road to play the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves.
NL Wild Card Standings
Hitting Stats (last 7 days)
Pitching Stats (last 7 days)
Injury Updates
Rhys Hoskins - The dream of the Phillies’ first baseman returning for the postseason is still a stretch, but not impossible. Rob Thomson said that if he is able to return, it wouldn’t be in time for a Wild Card series, and would instead be later in the postseason, if at all.
Results:
9/8 vs. Miami Marlins - L (2-3)
Christopher Sanchez got the start against rookie Eury Perez. Trea Turner returned from the paternity list and hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 1st to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd with 2 outs, Trea Turner walked, stole second, then scored on a bloop single by Bryce Harper. Sanchez was taken out after the 5 scoreless innings, and in the top of the 6th Jesus Sanchez hit a 2-run home run to tie the game at 2-2.
Jacob Stallings hit a solo home run in the top of the 7th to take a 3-2 lead. The Phillies were unable to push any runs across in the final 3 innings and fell 3-2. Christopher Sanchez went 5 innings with 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, and 0 runs on 4 hits. The Phillies had just 5 hits as a team, led by Trea Turner (2 for 3 with a home run, walk, 2 runs, and an RBI).
9/9 vs. Miami Marlins - W (8-4)
Aaron Nola got the start against Johnny Cueto. The Phillies gained a big lead early on thanks to a 2-out rally in the bottom of the 2nd where they scored 5 runs thanks in part to a 2-RBI double by Castellanos and a 3-run home run by Kyle Schwarber. The Marlins made things interesting in the top of the 5th when they scored 4 runs on a Garrett Hampson solo homer, Jacob Stallings RBI double, Josh Bell RBI double, and a sacrifice fly. The Phils responded in the bottom of the 5th with a 2-out, bases-clearing double by Brandon Marsh, extending the lead to 8-4.
No runs would be scored by either team after the 5th inning as Hoffman, Soto, Alvarado, and Kimbrel combined to throw 4.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen for the Phillies. Aaron Nola was excellent early on, but got into trouble in the 5th. He went 4.1 innings with 6 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 4 earned runs on 7 hits. The Phillies had 7 hits as a team and were led by Brandon Marsh (2 for 4 with a double, 3 RBI, and a run) and Nick Castellanos (2 for 3 with a double, walk, 2 RBI, and a run).
9/10 vs. Miami Marlins - L (4-5)
Ranger Suarez got the start against Steven Okert who served as opener to Bryan Hoeing. Trea Turner hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 1st to give Philly an early 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo shot to extend the lead to 3-0. The Marlins scored 3 runs in the top of the 7th to tie the game on a Yuli Gurriel double and Nick Fotes single. Bryan De La Cruz then hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 8th to take a 5-3 lead.
The Phillies responded with a run in the bottom of the 8th on a Castellanos double to make it a one-run game. Tanner Scott pitched a scoreless bottom of the 9th and the Phillies were unable to make the comeback. Suarez finished with 6.1 innings pitched, 10 strikeouts, 3 walks, and 3 earned runs on 2 hits. The Phillies had 8 hits as a team and were led by Kyle Schwarber (2 for 4 with a home run, walk, RBI, and 2 runs), Trea Turner (2 for 4 with a home run, 2 RBI, and a run), and Alec Bohm (2 for 5 with a double).
9/11 vs. Atlanta Braves (Game 1) - L (8-10)
Taijuan Walker got the start on the mound against former Phillie Charlie Morton. Austin Riley hit a triple with a defensive error and scored in the top of the 1st to take an early 1-0 lead. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit an RBI single in the top of the 3rd, followed by a 2-run response from the Phillies in the bottom half thanks to a 2-RBI double by Alec Bohm, tying the game at 2. Atlanta scored 3 runs in the top of the 5th on an Ozzie Albies RBI double and a 2-RBI double by Matt Olson.
In the bottom of the 5th, Alec Bohm hit an RBI single and Bryson Stott hit an RBI double to make the score 5-4. Atlanta extended their lead in the top of the 6th, scoring 3 runs on a 2-run homer by Michael Harris II and an Acuña solo homer. In the bottom of the 7th, Trea Turner hit a 2-run homer, his 25th of the year, to make the score 8-6. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Bryce Harper hit a 2-run home run to tie the game at 8 and force the game into extra innings.
Atlanta scored 2 in the top of the 10th off Jose Alvarado, and the Phillies were unable to score any in the bottom half as they lost 10-8. Taijuan Walker finished with 5.1 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, and 6 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits. The Phillies compiled 9 hits as a team, led by Bryce Harper (2 for 3 with a home run, 2 RBI, 2 walks, and 3 runs), Kyle Schwarber (2 for 4 with a walk and 3 runs), Alec Bohm (2 for 4 with a double, walk, and 3 RBI), and Trea Turner (2 for 5 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs).
9/11 vs. Atlanta Braves (Game 2) - W (7-5)
Michael Lorenzen got the start against Kyle Wright in game 2 of a double header. The Phillies took a 4-run lead in the bottom of the 1st inning on a Realmuto sacrifice fly, Nick Castellanos RBI single, and a 2-RBI double by Edmundo Sosa. Matt Olson hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 3rd to make the score 4-3. In the bottom of the 4th, Jake Cave hit an RBI triple and Trea Turner hit an RBI double to extend the Phillies’ lead to 6-3. Brandon Marsh hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th to make the score 7-3.
The Braves scored a run in the top of the 6th thanks to a Matt Olson solo homer and another run in the 7th on a Michael Harris II solo homer, making the score 7-5. Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless 8th and Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless 9th to earn the save. Lorenzen finished with 5 innings, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks, and 4 earned runs on 5 hits. The Phillies had 8 hits as a team, led by Trea Turner (2 for 4 with a double, RBI, and a run) and Edmundo Sosa (2 for 4 with a double, 2 RBI, and a run).
9/12 vs. Atlanta Braves - L (6-7)
Zach Wheeler got the start against Braves’ lefty Max Fried. Nick Castellanos opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd with a solo home run. Matt Olson hit a solo homer in the top of the 4th to tie the game at 1. The Braves scored 5 runs in the top of the 5th on a 2-run Acuña Jr. home run and 3-run homer by Marcell Ozuna.Trea Turner hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 7th to bring the score to 6-2.
In the bottom of the 8th, Bryce Harper hit a lead-off homer and Bryson Stott hit a 2-run home run to make it 6-5 and give the Phillies a chance. Raisel Iglesias came on for the save in the bottom of the 9th and Trea Turner took him deep for a game-tying solo home run. The game went into extras and Craig Kimbrel came on in the 10th. Eddie Rosario hit an RBI single to put the Braves up 7-6. Brad Hand retired Stott, Marsh, and Rojas in order as the Phillies were unable to tie the game.
Zach Wheeler got into trouble in the 5th, but finished with 5 innings, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks, and 6 earned runs on 7 hits. The Phillies out-hit the Braves 12-10 and were led by big performances from Trea Turner (3 for 5 with a home run, 2 RBI, and run), Bryce Harper (2 for 3 with a home run, 2 walks, RBI, and a run), and Nick Castellanos (2 for 5 with a home run, RBI, and 2 runs).
9/13 vs. Atlanta Braves - L (1-4)
Christopher Sanchez got the start against Spencer Strider in the series finale. Austin Riley hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 1st to give Atlanta an early 2-0 lead. Bryson Stott hit a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the 1st to make it 2-1. In the bottom of the 3rd, Austin Riley drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Kevin Pillar made it 4-1 in the 4th inning on an RBI double.
Strider settled in after the 1st and Sanchez settled in after the 4th as the score remained at 4-1 for the rest of the game. The Phillies offense could not get anything going off Strider and Sanchez had one of his best starts of the season. He finished with 7.1 innings, 10 strikeouts, 1 walk, and 4 earned runs on 8 hits. The Phillies were only able to muster 4 hits as a team, ending a frustrating series with the Braves.
Looking Ahead
The Phillies begin Week 24 of the season with a 3-game series on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals (65-81) Friday through Sunday followed by a 3-game road series in Atlanta with the Braves (96-50) Monday through Wednesday.
Friday, 9/15 8:15pm @ STL - Aaron Nola (12-9, 4.64 ERA) vs. Zack Thompson (5-5, 4.06 ERA)
Saturday, 9/16 7:15pm @ STL - Ranger Suarez (2-6, 3.93 ERA) vs. Miles Mikolas (7-11, 4.75 ERA)
Sunday, 9/17 2:05pm @ STL - Taijuan Walker (15-5, 4.30 ERA) vs. Dakota Hudson (6-2, 5.10 ERA)
Monday, 9/18 7:20pm @ ATL - Zack Wheeler (11-6, 3.70 ERA) vs. Kyle Wright (0-2, 7.48 ERA)
Tuesday, 9/19 7:20pm @ ATL - Christopher Sanchez (2-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. Max Fried (7-1, 2.64 ERA)
Wednesday, 9/20 12:20pm @ ATL - Aaron Nola vs. Spencer Strider (17-5, 3.73 ERA)
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