Phillies Opposition Roadblock: Arizona Diamondbacks

With the Red Sox out of the way, the Phillies are now welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks into CBP. The D-Backs come into play as one of the best teams in the NL and look to close the gap on their division foe, Colorado Rockies with some wins in Philly this weekend.

Xander Boegarts had two games in this series without a hit. He was 0-9 on Monday and Thursday’s contests. He was set down on strikes on four of those nine at-bats. In the other two games, he was 5-10 with three doubles, three runs batted in, and a run scored. In essence, all of the Red Sox hit during this series. With the exception of Nick Pivetta, Phillies pitching just could not harness this powerhouse offense. However, they did a halfway decent job on Boegarts.

Phils Grade: B-

This is a weird one, but baseball is a strange game. There is no doubt Chris Sale pitched better than any of the other Red Sox pitchers. He was utterly dominant. He threw an eight inning complete game that encompassed ten strikeouts and one walk. He allowed only four hits, but two came in the same inning when Andrew Knapp singled, and unlikely offensive hero, Ty Kelly laced a slider into the left field corner. Sale’s ridiculous performance went down as the Red Sox only loss of the series and his first loss in his last nine decisions.

Phils Grade: C+