PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies had a chance to fly down to Atlanta on a real high. Sweeping the Nationals and showing up at Truist Park with a five-game winning streak would have sent a message, even before the first pitch of the clash between the top two National League East teams was thrown.
But something happened on the way to that possibility.
Their pitching failed them.
First it was Taijuan Walker, throwing way too many pitches and being unable to get through five innings, leaving with his team trailing.
Then it was the bullpen, leaking oil drip by drip in three of the 4 1/3 innings they were called upon to get outs. The Phillies took the lead, blew it, rallied to tie, fell behind again and got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but it was all for naught.
They lost to Washington Sunday, 6-4, snapping their four-game winning streak, and now head to Atlanta with a bunch of questions still unanswered.
The biggest, from this game, was how dependable is the bullpen right now? The Phillies don’t seem to have any one reliever going good at the moment.
On Sunday, Tanner Banks gave up a run after giving up consecutive hits to left-handers – who supposedly he dominates, although not recently.
Then, after an inning where Jose Alvarado didn’t give up a run, (but still didn’t strike anyone out), it was Matt Strahm’s turn to cough up a run.
He gave up a single, walked a batter, and then a sacrifice bunt attempt turned into another single and suddenly it was bases loaded and nobody was out.
After one force out at the plate, Strahm got Jacob Young into an 0-2 count and then left a pitch up. It was out of the strike zone, but in a spot where Young could at least hit a fly ball to score a run from third on a sacrifice fly – and he did just that.
Then, in the ninth, Jeff Hoffman tried to sneak a fastball by James Wood, and that was a bad idea as Wood absolutely demolished it to right-center field.
Nine baserunners allowed by the four relievers leading to three runs is not good.
“It’s control with Strahm and command with Hoffman,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “Same thing with Alvarado – he hasn’t struck many people out lately. Maybe it’s a little bit of fatigue that their command is off a little bit.”
The Phillies need these four guys – and Carlos Estevez, who blew a save on Friday before the Phillies won on a walk off hit by Trea Turner – if they are going to do anything of substance come October.
Then there’s Walker.
Keibert Ruiz hit a two-run homer in the third off Walker. Call followed an inning later with his third this season, and second in the series.
Call's 397-foot shot to left field chased Walker, who lasted 4 2/3 innings and threw 99 pitches, 61 for strikes.
In the first inning alone, Walker threw 27 pitches – to just four batters.
“I’m still not throwing enough strikes,” said Walker, who was making his second start after missing six weeks with an inflamed index finger on his throwing hand. “It’s too many pitches, especially for five innings. I like to go deep in games – six or seven innings. I’m just throwing away pitches right now.”
But the Phillies are going to stick with him. Their alternatives aren’t great. To his credit, in the fifth inning Walker was able to reach back and throw his fastball at 94 MPH, which is where the Phillies would like him to be more consistent.
Walker said he needs to start trusting his stuff more – and not worry that mistakes are going to hurt him because there’s not enough on his pitches.
“I just got to get comfortable throwing a splitter a lot more now,” he said. “I want to throw it down. I want to throw it under the zone and get weak contact with it.”
Thomson said he felt there’s more there for Walker to go deeper in games but conceded that if Walker is just a five-inning pitcher, then that’s OK too.
As for the offense…
Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh hit back-to-back homers and Turner also went deep.
“This was a tough one today, but (after winning four straight) we got that feeling again,” Marsh said. “We just got to keep rolling.”
Turner had a pair of hits off Washington starter Jake Irvin, including a solo shot into the center field foliage leading off the third inning.
Turner, who was benched for a game against Miami earlier this week after a 16-game stretch in which he went 10 for 70, finished the four-game series against the Nationals with 10 hits.
Nick Castellanos drove in the Phillies' other run with an RBI single in the first inning.
Alec Bohm extended his on-base streak to 35 games with a single in the first inning. It is the longest run by a Philadelphia player since Chase Utley had a 36-game streak in 2006. But more impressive than the streak was the catch Bohm made in the ninth inning at first base.
Running hard into foul territory to chase a pop up by Call, Bohm had the ball pop out of his glove, but as his momentum was carrying him forward, he contorted himself to lunge backwards and snow-coned the ball in his glove before crashing into the netting.
ON DECK
The Phillies head to Atlanta for a showdown with their N.L. East rivals. RHP Zack Wheeler (12-5, 2.72) will pitch for the Phillies in the opener on Tuesday. The Braves have not announced a starter.
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