Phillies drop series in New York prior to home opener

The Phillies lost the third game in New York to lose second straight series.

The start to the 2023 season has not gone according to plan for the Philadelphia Phillies. They have lost their second straight series to begin the new season to drop to 1-5. While they did win one game in the Bronx, the two losses were frustrating.

The Phillies dropped game one of the series 8-1 as Taijuan Walker made his Phillies debut. Walker struggled a bit with control and walked three batters in just 4 1/3 innings. He surrendered four earned runs before the bullpen came in and let things get out of hand. Right-handed reliever Yunior Marte— who was optioned to Triple A Lehigh Valley after the next day— gave up another four runs in just a 1/3 of an inning. The Phillies lone run was scored in the top of the 4th inning when Edmundo Sosa knocked in Alec Bohm.

The Phillies won game two of the series 4-2 as they looked to reliever-turned-starter Matt Strahm. Strahm pitched well enough to keep the Phillies in the game as he pitched 4 innings allowing just one hit and one walk and no runs to score. The Phillies bullpen came in and did their jobs as Andrew Bellatti, José Alvarado, Connor Brogdon, and Craig Kimbrel combined to allow just one run on three hits. Alvarado's inning was particularly impressive as he sat down the side in order all by way of strikeouts on just 12 pitches.

The Phillies pitching was supported by some offense as Kyle Schwarber hit his 200th career home run and Brandon Marsh hit a 436 ft. bomb to right-center field.

Game three was another frustrating loss as the Phillies looked to Aaron Nola to pick up their second win of the season. Nola pitched well as he bounced back from a lackluster Opening Day start. He went 6+ innings allowing three runs and struck out five Yankees' hitters. The Yankees did not have much hard contact off Nola, however.

Gregory Soto took over for Nola and allowed a weak two-run home run to Jose Trevino to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead in the 7th inning. The Phillies scored one more run on another Schwarber home run. The Phillies offense sputtered overall as they struck out 12 times on the day.

The Phillies are dealing with some significant injuries to key players. They also had a shortened offseason. The slow start to 2023 is discouraging, but should not be a reason to hit the panic button just yet. Bryce Harper is set to return at some point this summer, Ranger Suarez will eventually be back to bolster the rotation and other players will hopefully step up as they find their rhythm.

The Phillies have also started out against two talented teams -- the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. The schedule will ease up a bit in the next week as the club will return home to Philadelphia to play the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, weather permitting. They will look to turn things around in the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park and find some consistency.