Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Diego Padres Series Recap - July 14 - July 16
Recapping each game in the Phillies vs. Padres series and a look at series highlights with the Series Six Pack
Philadelphia Phillies (48-41) vs. San Diego Padres (43-47)
Game 1 – Phillies lose 8-3 - W: Darvish (6-6, 4.65), L: Sanchez (0-3, 3.26), S: Hader (22)
There wasn’t much good to come out of this one for the Phillies. Christopher Sanchez led the Phillies out of the All-Star break and performed admirably for a 5th starter giving up three runs over five innings. But the bats may have stayed on break as the Phillies could only muster one run and five hits through the first eight innings and were able to tack on two runs in the ninth to lose the game 8-3. Bohm went 2-3 with a walk driving in one rbi and scoring a run and Realmuto hit a solo homerun in the ninth after the game was all but decided. The Padres came out swinging and hit four homeruns that went deep into the clear Philadelphia night.
Game 2 (Doubleheader 1) – Phillies come from behind to win 6-4 - W: Strahm (6-3, 3.81), L: Hill (1-3, 4.15), S: Kimbrel (15)
This was a big game for the Phillies and they somehow hung in this one long enough to get the win. In the second inning, the Phillies went down early after Trea Turner failed to get the easy out to end the inning and then Trent Grisham hit a three run homerun off Ranger Suarez. The next three innings, both teams failed to get a run across the plate despite getting runners on base as Suarez and Blake Snell traded putting up zeros on the board. Finally in the bottom of the 6th, the Phillies crack through with a single by Bohm, walk from Stott and a two-out double to left field by Marsh that went right over Soto’s head. It cut the Padres lead to one for the time being until the next inning, Schwarber teed off on Nick Martinez to tie the game at three. In the top of the 8th, Manny Machado answered with a bomb that went 425 feet to retake the lead at 4-3. Fortunately, the Fightins’ bats came alive in the bottom of the 8th and with Stott reaching on an error and four straight singles from Marsh, Harper, Schwarber and Turner the Phillies entered the 9th with a 6-4 lead. Kimbrel shut the door for his 15th save and the Phillies walked out of game one of a day/night double header with a W.
Game 3 (Doubleheader 2) – Phillies sail to a 9-4 win to sweep the doubleheader - W: Walker (11-3, 4.00), L: Weathers (1-6, 6.25)
A rare game where the Phillies didn’t have to really sweat this one out. After giving up a first inning inning run, Walker settled in and ended up dealing five innings with just two earned runs. Bryce Harper hit his first home run in 166 plate appearances in the 4th inning to tie it up and then the Phillies broke it open the very next inning. The Padres scored one in the top half of the inning to make it 2-1 but Stubbs lead off the bottom of the inning with a single and Johan Rojas fresh off his AA call up, recorded his first hit with a broken bat single. Schwarber then followed that up with a three run homer that just got over the fence in right field. It was 4-2 and the Phillies didn’t look back. Rojas added his first rbi with a bunt single to make it 5-2 and then Turner recorded his second hit of the game with an rbi single. In the bottom of the 7th the Phillies tacked on three more runs with a HBP to Sosa, walk to Stubbs and another rbi single by Rojas, his third hit of the day. The Padres added two more but the game was seemingly decided. The Phillies closed out the game 9-4 with not much to sweat about.
Game 4 – Phillies win a back-and-forth game with a Schwarber sacrifice fly in the 12th inning - W: Hoffman (3-1, 2.59), L: Hill (1-4, 3.98)
Talk about a seesaw game, the Phillies and Padres traded blows until the Phillies and Kyle Schwarber walked it off with a sacrifice fly that drove in Edmundo Sosa in the 12th inning. The Padres struck first with three runs in the first five innings with solo homers in the first and fourth innings and an RBI double in the fifth. The Phillies answered with a solo shot of their own by Bryson Stott in bottom of the 5th and the bats then woke up the very next inning. Schwarber hit another homer, his third in three games, to cut the lead to 3-2. Then after a Turner single, Harper double and Realmuto double the Phillies took a 4-3 lead. They tacked on one more with a bases loaded walk by Ellis to lead 5-3. Wheeler went seven innings strong with seven strikeouts and handed the ball over to Soto for the eighth. Soto worked himself into a jam and gave up a game tying single to Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded. Neither team was able to win it in the 9th and the game went to extras. After the Padres scored a run in the 10th, the Phillies were down to their final out with Rojas on third and Harper up. He poked a base hit up the middle off Hader and sent the game into the 11th. The Phillies then shut down the Padres in the 11th and 12th innings behind a stellar performance by Jeff Hoffman. In the bottom of the 12th, Rojas successfully bunted Sosa over and Schwarber took care of the rest with a sac fly to left field. The Phillies end the first series after the All Star break taking three of four.
Series Six Pack of Notes/Highlights:
1. Johan Rojas was called up from AA in place of an injured Cristian Pache and came out with a bang. Starting in center field in game one of the double header, the ball found him right away. Following a leadoff single, Tatis Jr. put a charge into one and Rojas made a leaping catch at the wall and had the awareness to nail the running at first base for a double play. In game two of the double header Rojas recorded his first hit, RBI, and run. He ended game two with three hits and two rbi. Marsh and Stott welcomed him to the Day Care and the team with the post game water dousing they’ve come to be known for. Finally, in the series finale, he scored the game tying run in the 10th inning and had a key sac bunt to get the runner to third base in the 12th to set up the game winning sac fly. Overall, pretty successful debut for Rojas.
2. Bryce Harper hit his first home run in 166 plate appearances and 38 games, by far the longest the drought of his career. It had been such a long time since he homered, he forgot to acknowledge the bullpen on his trot around the bases and called the bullpen when he got back into the dugout. Harper’s original date to get back on the field from Tommy John surgery was Friday so the mere fact to have had him for 57 games before that is quite the feat.
3. Nick Castellanos has consistently been the best bat in the Phillies lineup in 2023 which is an incredible turnaround from last year. He was one of two representatives for the Phillies at this years All-Star game and he’s clearly carrying himself with a confidence we’ve come to know from in the past. However, this was not a great start for him out of the break. In three games started and one as a pinch hitter this weekend he hit a combined 1-16 and swung at pitches way out of the zone. Thomson gave him the day off on Sunday seemingly to regroup. His batting average dropped .301 to .292 in just three games. He had multiple swings on pitches that bounced before home plate. Castellanos will look to bounce back from a tough series at the plate.
4. The roller coaster season continues for Trea Turner. He was 0-5 with three strikeouts in the first game of the series and he had a crucial mental mistake in the first game of the double header as he tried to flip the ball behind his back to Sosa at second base rather than get the way out at first and end the inning. The next batter hit a three run homerun to put the Phillies in a hole. But he bounced back at the plate in a big way and went a combined 4-8 with 2 rbi and 2 walks in the two Saturday games. Then Sunday he went 1-5 with a run and a couple key defensive plays that saved the Phillies. Hopefully there’s more ups than downs as the season continues.
5. The Phillies dug themselves a hole in every game of the series. The Padres scored first in each game and held 3-0 leads in three of the four games and 1-0 in the other. The Phillies did a good job fighting back in the last three games coming back and winning each of those three games. Though it worked out this series, It will be difficult for the Phillies to make a run to the playoffs if they continue to start these games behind the 8-ball.
6. Kyle Schwarber has come out hot from the All Star break. He went 5-20 with three homeruns, seven RBIs, three runs and the walk-off sacrifice fly in the final game of the series. Schwarber now has 25 homers on the year and 12 since being inserted at the top of the lineup. Phillies will need the big power hitter to continue hitting in the leadoff spot if they want to make a run.
Next up: Three game set against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers at home starting on Tuesday night.