Philadelphia Phillies vs Cincinnati Reds: Five Observations from Philly’s First Loss

The Phillies couldn’t stay perfect for the 2017 season as they lost their second game of the season to the Reds by a 2-0 score.

Well, I guess expecting the Phillies to win every single game this season was a bit of a stretch.

After winning on Opening Day, the Phils fell back to .500 as they received their first loss of the season. Jerad Eickhoff was stuck with the loss without really deserving it, the offense struggled, and the rain as usual played a factor. Hopefully, they can bounce back Thursday and win the series with Clay Buchholz on the mound.

Anyway, here’s five observations I had from Wednesday’s shutout loss to the Reds.

No One Wants to Deal with Your Rain Delay Questions

The Phillies and Reds were delayed by 50 minutes and no one wanted to be the one in charge of saying when the game would actually begin.

The weather was quite bad, and Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly said the Reds ground crew had to park tractors on the tarp in order to keep it from flying away due to the wind. Meghan Montemurro of the News Journal thought the game wouldn’t be able to start until 9:00, but they were able to get it going by 8:00.

Jerad Eickhoff Pitched Well Despite Loss

Jerad Eickhoff was arguably Philadelphia’s best pitcher in 2016 despite what his 11-14 record may indicate. Many of those losses came when Eickhoff got little run support as he got 3.70 runs on average in support from the offense. He got three runs or less of support in 17 games, and just one in 18 starts since his debut in 2015, as pointed out by Montemurro.

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Eickhoff’s first start in 2017 was more of the same as he took another loss. Philadelphia did not score any runs at all during the game as Reds starter Brandon Finnegan was dominant. Even though Eickhoff left Cincinnati with the loss, his start overall was strong.

Eickhoff finished his 6.2 innings with six strikeouts while giving up two runs on five hits and two walks. He didn’t allow any runs until the seventh when Joey Votto launched a solo home run. You could argue the second run shouldn’t have scored because Aaron Altherr would have plenty of time to throw out Adam Duvall at the plate from right.

Instead, Altherr bobbled the ball transitioning it from his glove to his throwing hand, allwoing Duvall to score. Eickhoff could’ve got out of the inning with just one run allowed had Altherr made the play.

Instead, Altherr bobbled the ball transitioning it from his glove to his throwing hand. Eickhoff could’ve got out of the inning with just one run allowed had Altherr made the play.

One interesting thing pointed out by Todd Zolecki of MLB.com was that both Votto’s home run and Duvall’s double came off of Eickhoff’s curveball. Normally, that curveball is quite effective:

Eickhoff had his curveball going well for most of the game, but by his third time through the order, it was clear the Reds were eventually able to line it up. Despite that, it was still a strong start to the season for Eickhoff.

Pat Neshek is so Deceptive

Wednesday was the first time I actually watched Pat Neshek pitch, and boy is his motion hard to follow.

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He starts off in a full windup, brings his hands behind his back, leans over to the side like he’s going to throw it submarine-style, then brings his arm up just enough to throw it with his arm parallel to the ground. It’s so deceptive with so many moving parts. Even John Kruk on the CSN broadcast said he would have trouble hitting against Neshek.

Neshek was dominant as a whole in his Phillies debut, striking out two in his lone inning of relief.

He threw 14 pitches, 10 of which were strikes.

Plus, Neshek is just so gosh darn fun to watch. He was so energetic during the World Baseball Classic, and he carried that same energy into Great American Ballpark. When he struck out Jose Peraza to end the eighth, Neshek was amped.

Neshek should be more fun to watch as the season goes on. Let’s see if he can stay excited as this season wears on.

Yeah, This Offense Still Needs Some Work

Just when you think the Phillies have started to cobble together a competent offense, they blow up those hopes the next game. As mentioned earlier, Brandon Finnegan controlled Philadelphia’s lineup. After a first inning where Finnegan was forced to throw 25 pitches, he had to throw just 63 to get through the next six innings.

The Phils helped Finnegan out quite a bit, striking out nine times. Tommy Joseph struck out three times during the game, while Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis both went down on strikes twice. On the post-game show, the analysts discussed how the Phillies were getting “over-anxious” and got themselves throughout the game.

Philadelphia finally had a chance to score in the eighth when Aaron Altherr and Cameron Rupp had two straight infield singles to open up the inning. Galvis and Michael Saunders then both struck out before Hernandez ground out to end the inning and kill Philadelphia’s best chance to tie the game.