Phillies Overpowered Again by Blue Jays
By Matt Veasey
2. 6. 7. 39. Final
The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.
This four game home-and-home series between the Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays moved south from Canada to South Philly, but the outcome was the same as yesterday afternoon.
The Blue Jays blasted the Phillies by a 7-2 score on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park, and have now outscored the Fightin’ Phils by 18-5 after the Phils took the opener by 7-0. Close games are apparently not a signature of this matchup.
Toronto undeniably has a more powerful, veteran-laden lineup, and that fact reared its head once again tonight.
The Jays roped around Phillies starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who allowed four earned runs on five hits and three walks over six innings.
Hellickson (4-5) was off the mark all night. He threw just 58 strikes in 107 pitches. It was the third time in his 13 starts that the righty has allowed at least a half-dozen earned runs.
Edwin Encarnacion blasted his 17th home run of the season off the Phils’ starter in the 2nd inning, and later in the game Josh Donaldson drilled his 16th homer of the year off reliever Hector Neris, who also continues his recent struggles.
The Phillies home run leader is Maikel Franco with 11 longballs. Toronto has four players with at least that many. This is really an offensive mismatch on most nights.
On the mound, righty Marco Estrada (5-2) was typically efficient for the Blue Jays. He allowed four hits over 6.2 innings while striking out five and walking just one.
The lone bright spot for the Phillies’ lineup was left fielder Cody Asche, who had his first big game since returning from the disabled list. Asche went 3-4, and blasted his 2nd home run of the season in the 2nd inning.
The teams will conclude this series on Thursday night, and the Phils will then welcome in the Arizona Diamondbacks for a four-game wraparound series that will run over the weekend and conclude on Monday afternoon.