After being swept in an ugly three-game series at Citizens Bank Park by the Milwaukee Brewers, the Philadelphia Phillies headed north to Toronto for a three-game set against the Blue Jays, looking to regain their footing with the season entering its summer stretch.
While the Phillies opened the series on a high note Tuesday night, that momentum quickly faded. They followed Tuesday’s win with back-to-back losses—Wednesday’s a narrow, one-run defeat, and Thursday’s a game that unraveled on the pitching side. What began as a promising rebound ended in another series loss.
Let’s take a closer look at how these three games unfolded.
Tuesday night’s series opener marked the return of Phillies fan favorite and two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper, who had missed time after taking a pitch to the right elbow. With their star back in the lineup, the offense was firing on all cylinders, as the Fightin’ Phils racked up 11 hits and plated 8 runs en route to an 8–3 victory.
Philadelphia wasted no time getting on the board, jumping out to a 6–0 lead in the top of the first against Blue Jays right-hander Bowden Francis. The scoring outburst was sparked by a two-run homer from Trea Turner, followed immediately by a 394-foot blast to right-center from Harper—marking the third time this season the Phillies have hit back-to-back home runs. The rally continued with an RBI single from Max Kepler and a two-run single by Bryson Stott. In total, the Phillies sent 11 batters to the plate in the opening frame.
Harper finished 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored in his return to the lineup.
Turner connected on his second home run of the night in the eighth, marking his seventh of the season and his first multi-homer game of the year.
On the mound for Philadelphia, Cristopher Sánchez delivered a solid outing striking out four over six innings while allowing just four hits and one run. He did, however, issue a season-high four walks. With the win, Sánchez improved to 5–1 on the year with a 3.15 ERA and 74 strikeouts.
With Tuesday’s victory, the Phillies snapped their four-game losing streak.
Wednesday’s game was one many Phillies fans were especially eager to witness, as rookie pitcher and Philadelphia’s No. 8 prospect Mick Abel made his second appearance with the club. Fans may recall that during Abel’s MLB debut on May 18, he was dominant—striking out nine Pittsburgh Pirates over six scoreless innings while allowing just five hits and no walks.
Although Abel didn’t earn the win on Wednesday, as the Phillies fell 2–1 in a tightly contested game, the rookie right-hander gave fans plenty to be excited about moving forward. In his second Major League start, Abel went 5.1 innings, allowing just three hits and one run—an RBI triple by Bo Bichette in the bottom of the sixth—while striking out two and issuing no walks. Impressively, Abel has yet to walk a batter in either of his first two MLB outings and has thrown a first-pitch strike to 29 of the 41 batters he’s faced (71%).
In addition to his solid performance, the Oregon native made history. According to OptaSTATS, Abel is the “only MLB pitcher in the modern era to pitch at least 5.0 innings with no walks and no more than 1 run allowed in each of his first 2 career appearances.” Through two Major League starts, Abel owns a 0.79 ERA, a 0.706 WHIP, and 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings—good for a 0.7 WAR.
“He was fantastic,” said manager Rob Thomson, who praised Abel’s performance and composure on the mound, noting, “I mean, first-pitch strikes, strike-to-ball ratio, curveball was really good. No walks. The poise was outstanding. I thought he was really good.”
Nick Castellanos put the Phillies on the board early with a solo home run in the second inning, but it would prove to be the team’s only run of the evening.
The score was knotted heading into the bottom of the ninth when Alejandro Kirk drove in the winning run off former Blue Jay Jordan Romano. Romano, now 0–2 on the season with a 7.54 ERA, was tagged with the loss. Ironically, the win went to Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman—now 5–2 on the year—who spent the previous two seasons in a Phillies uniform.
While the Phillies came up short Wednesday in Toronto, Abel’s outing offered plenty of reason for optimism, as the team may have a future ace in the making.
With the series knotted at one game apiece, Thursday’s matchup would decide the series—and unfortunately for the Phillies, everything seemed to go the Blue Jays’ way.
The Blue Jays’ offense erupted for 14 hits, producing 9 runs and forcing the Phillies to pull Jesús Luzardo after just 2⅓ innings. Luzardo surrendered 9 hits and 8 earned runs in Thursday’s loss. Fans may recall that in his previous outing on May 31 against Milwaukee, he allowed 12 runs on 12 hits over 3⅓ innings. In total, he has now given up 21 hits and 20 earned runs over just 5⅔ innings across his last two starts—a sharp contrast to the form he showed earlier this season. Through his first 11 starts, Luzardo maintained a stellar 2.15 ERA, but after Thursday’s rough outing, his ERA has soared to 4.46. To make matters worse, as reported by Paul Casella of MLB.com, Luzardo became the first pitcher in MLB history to allow 20 or more earned runs in fewer than six innings across a two-start span.
Offensively, the Phillies managed just five hits—three of them off the bat of Castellanos. Turner added a double, and Kyle Schwarber drove in the team’s only run of the afternoon with an RBI single.
Coming into Toronto, the Phillies had won five straight road series, a testament to their strong play away from Citizens Bank Park. However, that momentum came to a halt with a series loss to the Blue Jays, as the Phillies have now dropped six of their last seven games.
Now 37–25 and 1.5 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East standings, the Phillies will head to Pittsburgh for a three-game series against the Pirates beginning Friday at 6:40 p.m. With Wheeler on paternity leave, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reported that the Phillies are expected to go with a bullpen game in the series opener. Ranger Suárez and Sánchez are scheduled to start Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in the final two games of the set.
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