Philadelphia Phillies at Cleveland Guardians Series Recap - July 21-July 23
Recapping each game in the Phillies at Guardians and a look at series highlights with the Series Six Pack
Philadelphia Phillies (52-44) at Cleveland Guardians (47-49)
Game 1 – Phillies fall behind again, and the comeback falls short to lose 6-5 – W: Stephan (5-4, 3.21), L: Suarez (2-5, 4.07), S: Clase (26)
For the seventh game out of eight since the All-Star break, the Phillies fell behind early. In the first inning, Ranger Suarez got two very quick outs but proceeded to give up two singles, a double and another single that scored two runs and the Phillies were in a hole. The Phillies loaded the bases in the top of the second but recently called up Jake Cave struck out to end the inning. In the third, however, Phillies cut the lead in half when Castellanos grounded out but scored Turner who had just tripled. In the top of the 4th, Phillies had more RISP with Cave up again and this time he singled but Bohm was nailed at the plate from Guardians center fielder Myles Straw. Schwarber was able to work a walk to load the bases again but Turner struck out to end the threat. To make matters worse, in the bottom of the inning, the Guardians led off with a double and after a sacrifice bunt, a ground out, and walk, Steven Kwan hit a clutch 2-out single to extend the lead to 3-1. Suarez, who was not his sharpest, got into some trouble again in the 5thand allowed another run pushing the lead to 4-1. The Phillies continued to fight through and in the top of the 6th had something cooking. A Stott single and three consecutive walks scored one and Turner was up with the bases loaded and one out. He struck out swinging on a pitch way outside and Castellanos flew out to left field and the threat was over. Yunior Marte relived Suarez and was credited with two runs and only getting one out. He surrendered a single, double, and single that scored one and then Strahm came in and allowed a single to score one more. The Cleveland lead stood at 6-2. As the Phillies have done so often, they fought back. Hitting back-to-back homeruns, JT hit a 2-run moonshot to left field and Stott followed it up with his own solo shot to right. The score was 6-5 but that’s how it would end. The Phillies would go down in order the next two innings and the comeback fell just shy.
Game 2 – Phillies make mental mistakes, offense fails and Phillies lose 1-0 - W: Bibee (6-2, 3.04), L: Wheeler (7-5, 3.88), S: Clase (27)
Other than Zach Wheeler dealing, there was nothing good in this game for the Phillies. For the second time in three games, the offense could only muster two hits. One of which came in the first inning and the other, a lead off double by Sosa in the top of the 6th. After the lead off double, Schwarber was able to get him over with a deep fly ball but for the second time in back-to-back games, Turner struck out with the man on third and failed to bring in the runner. Castellanos struck out the very next at bat and the threat was over. The bottom of that inning, a cruising Wheeler got the first two batters quickly. Amed Rosario then hit a single and Jose Ramirez stepped up. He popped up to shallow right field and the ball inexplicably fell in the middle of Stott, Marsh, and Castellanos. That would be the difference maker as either team didn’t make any other noise the remainder of the game and the final score was 1-0. Phillies increase their losing streak to four games.
Game 3 – Phillies battle hard and salvage the last game of the series to win 8-5 in extras – W: Kimbrel (6-1, 3.29), L: Herrin (1-1, 5.55) S: Marte (2)
The Phillies found themselves in unfamiliar territory in this game. They score a run in the top of first innings and took the early lead. After Turner grounded into a double play, Harper walked, Castellanos singled, Stott walked and the Guardians helped out with a balk automatically scoring Harper. Realmuto ended up flying out to end the inning. The Guardians answered right back though with a leadoff solo homer by Kwan. They went on to score one more run in each of the next two innings, one by another solo homer in the second inning by Andres Gimenez and a ground out that scored a runner from third with less than two outs. It was 3-1 until the top of fifth inning when Marsh hit his league leading sixth triple. Cave struck out and Schwarber followed it up with an infield single to score Marsh. Turner knocked a double to left field and the Phillies had second and third with one out. Bryce Harper hit, what seemed to be, a foul ball up the first base line and didn’t move from the box but the ump called it fair, and Schwarber was on his horse to score and tie the game at three. In the top of the sixth, the Phillies finally got the lucky bounce. After a single from Realmuto, Marsh popped up to sure handed Ramirez. It popped out of his glove and Realmuto was running the entire time because there were two outs. Phillies took the lead 4-3 into the ninth inning where Kimbrel awaited. But with two outs, David Fry knocked a homer to left center and the game was tied. Kimbrel’s first blown save of the year. The Phillies came out firing in the 10th scoring four runs on a Harper single, Realmuto sac fly, and a 2-run single by Bohm. The bottom of the inning was a bit dicey as Hoffman didn’t have his good stuff. He loaded the bases with no outs after allowing a rbi single and Marte came in to relieve him. Marte got the Guardians two best hitting to fly out and pop out and then a weak grounder to end the game.
Series Six Pack of Notes/Highlights:
1. The defense this series was not up to par. There were numerous balls that fell on the outfield that should have been caught, namely one that fell in the middle of the players and was the game winning “hit”. The Phillies got solid pitching this series but the defense failed the team and made winning just that much more difficult.
2. The typical top five guys in the lineup, Schwarber, Turner, Castellanos, Harper and Realmuto, combined to hit 4-39 in the two losses and 6-21 in the one win. There is a clear correlation on how the team does vs how those five guys are performing at the plate. It's no secret that teams need their best players to hit, and those five guys were not hitting in the four-game losing streak. It's nice to see them breakout of it in the final game of this series.
3. Bryce Harper’s long anticipated debut at first base occurred in game one and he played there again in game three. As baseball does, the ball found him early and often. The very first Guardians batter hit a dribbler to Harper who made the easy play. Later in game one, there was a pop up in foul territory near first base. It kept fading towards the dug out and stands but that didn’t stop Harper who made a leaping grab falling over the fence. It was an athletic play that many first basemen don’t make let alone one who was playing there for the first time. In his two games he made a handful of really nice plays and made most of the easy ones. Each game he gains experience and will get a little better.
4. Nola and Wheeler are pitching at ace form. In game two, Wheeler went seven innings allowing the one “earned” run while striking out eight and walking just one. He was in peak form. Nola started game three and though they scored three runs, he looked in control and was throwing strikes. His final line was seven innings, three runs with seven strikeouts and no walks. Phillies need their top end starters to perform like this to continue their playoff push.
5. Although the Phillies found themselves losing four straight before the win in the final game of the series, they didn’t lose much ground in the Wild Card standings. The teams ahead of them (other than the Reds) all went on extended losing streaks themselves. Marlins have lost , Diamondbacks have lost , the giants have lost . Baseball is a game of streaks and teams just have to limit the bad ones as much as possible. Phillies are still right in the thick of it.
6. Craig Kimbrel blew his first game of the season Sunday afternoon in the final game of the series. He had been 16/16 on save opportunities prior to letting up a game tying homerun. With that being said, Kimbrel has been one of, if not the best, off-season acquisition that Dombrowski and the front office made. A one year, $10 million deal is an absolute bargain for an All-Star closer. The Phillies will certainly take Kimbrel’s performance this year as the closer role has been an adventure for quite some time.