Phillies Drop Series Finale to Reds
By Matt Veasey
4. 6. 9. 61. Final
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped a series finale to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
After a rousing Saturday night victory, the Phillies came out flat on Sunday and dropped the series finale by a 9-4 score to the visiting Reds. Despite the defeat, the Phils won their 3rd consecutive series.
There were two main culprits in this defeat, each as culpable as the other. Starting pitcher Adam Morgan produced his worst outing since being called up from AAA over two weeks ago.
And when the Phillies hitters had bats in their hands, they put runners on base, but failed to bring them home, leaving 16 runners on base.
“We just couldn’t capitalize with men in scoring position, men on base,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said per MLB.com writers. “It is what it is. We’ve been playing so well up to this point and this was a hiccup.”
Reds starter Dan Straily (2-1) shut the Phils out despite allowing six hits and three walks over five innings. He struck out six, and was ultimately credited with the Win.
Morgan (1-1) allowed seven earned runs on eight hits and three walks over just 3.2 innings. Jay Bruce and Adam Duvall drilled back-to-back doubles to start the top of the 2nd and give the Reds an early 1-0 lead, and Tucker Barnhart singled home Duvall to make it 2-0 before the frame was over.
“Right from the gate, I felt like I was searching for the rhythm and the tempo and it was just one of those days where the command wasn’t there,” Morgan said per the MLB.com contributors.
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In the top of the 4th, the Reds blew it open with a major crooked number, scoring five times. After scratching out two more runs thanks largely to three walks (one intentional), Eugenio Suarez drove a 3-run homer out to center field to make it a 7-0 blowout.
That was it for Morgan, and over the next 4.1 innings, Brett Oberholtzer and Colton Murray kept Cincy off the board, giving the Phils bats a chance to come back.
Maikel Franco roped a two-out, 2-run double in the bottom of the 6th to make it a 7-2 game. Then in the bottom of the 8th, Franco’s two-out single knocked in a third run, cutting the deficit to 7-3.
But along the way, a number of things went against the Phillies, and a number of hitters failed with runners in scoring position. Of particular note were a pair of deep drives off the bat of Ryan Howard that missed being two home runs by a combined 15 feet at most.
In the top of the 9th, the Reds put it out of reach with two more runs off reliever Elvis Araujo. The big blow was a two-out, 2-run single off the bat of Zack Cozart that made it a 9-3 game.
The Phillies had one final shot in the bottom of the 9th when three of the first four hitters singled to load the bases, and David Lough drew a walk that forced in Carlos Ruiz to cut the Reds lead down to 9-4.
Reds manager Bryan Price made the move to bring in Tony Cingrani, and the lefty retired the final two Phillies batters to wrap up the victory and earn his 3rd Save on the season.
The loss kept the Phillies from moving into a tie for first in the NL East with the Washington Nationals, who also lost, but they remain a half game up on the New York Mets for 2nd place, as the Mets also lost on Sunday.
The Miami Marlins will now come in to Citizens Bank Park for a series to start the new week. The Phils took two of three games down in Miami last weekend. The Fish have won two straight, and are in 4th place in the division at 20-17, but are just 1.5 games behind the Phils.