After an ugly 12-1 loss to the Athletics last Thursday, the Phillies welcomed the Colorado Rockies to town hoping to bounce back. The team has been playing strong baseball since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager, and they were eager to keep that momentum rolling. With that in mind, here’s a recap of the three-game series against the Rockies.
Friday night’s game drew 39,478 fans to Citizens Bank Park and was one of the strangest baseball games you’ll see all season. It was a sloppy, back-and-forth extra-inning slugfest where the Rockies blew a big early lead, the Phillies mounted a dramatic comeback featuring a rookie’s milestone homer, but Colorado still pulled out a 9-7 victory in 11 innings with some late heroics.
Starter Jesús Luzardo surrendered six runs in just three-plus innings, throwing 95 pitches while recording only nine outs. His final line read: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, as his ERA ballooned to 5.98. It marked the fourth time in eight starts this season that Luzardo has allowed five or more runs, and he failed to record a single out in the fourth inning. His 95 pitches were the most thrown by a Phillies starter who failed to complete three innings since Terry Adams needed 97 pitches to get through 2⅓ innings on July 16, 2002.
The Rockies led 7-2 after seven innings, but the Phillies made it interesting in the eighth. Philadelphia erupted for five runs in the bottom of the inning, thanks to an RBI single from Brandon Marsh, a two-RBI double by Bryson Stott, and a two-run homer by rookie sensation Justin Crawford, the first of his career. The score was all tied up after eight.
“Really special,” Crawford said after the game. “It was a great feeling, tying the game up right there. Wish we would have won, but definitely a feeling and a moment that I’ll remember forever.”
The game went to extras and dragged into the 11th inning, when the Rockies tacked on two more runs and the Phillies were unable to answer in the bottom half. The final score was Rockies 9, Phillies 7 in 11 innings.
Earlier in the game, Kyle Schwarber homered for his 13th of the season and 200th as a Phillie.
On Saturday, Aaron Nola (2-3, 5.06) took the mound, looking to build on his strong last start in Miami, where he tossed 6.0 scoreless innings and struck out five.
However, it was another shaky start for the 32-year-old, who has struggled to find consistency this season. Nola came one out shy of qualifying for the win, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks across 4⅔ innings.
Fortunately for Philadelphia, the offense picked up where Nola left off, piling up 14 hits and nine runs after dropping the previous two games. Schwarber homered, while the bullpen combined to allow no hits after Nola’s departure, with left-hander Tim Mayza earning the victory after taking over in the fifth.
The player of the game was, without question, Alec Bohm, who has endured his fair share of challenges both on and off the field this season. In addition to the legal matters involving his parents, Bohm entered Saturday hitting just .159 and had not played since last Wednesday after being given what Mattingly described as a “reset.” However, Saturday felt like a much-needed breakthrough, and perhaps exactly the kind of performance Bohm needed to regain some confidence. Batting out of the eighth spot in the lineup, Bohm delivered a night to remember, blasting a solo home run in the third inning, another in the fourth, and a two-run double to left in the eighth. He finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
“It was definitely a lot of fun,” Bohm said
On Sunday afternoon, the Phillies turned to dependable left-hander Cristopher Sánchez with a chance to secure the series win, and he delivered once again. Sánchez tossed seven scoreless innings, struck out seven, and continued his dominant stretch by extending his career-best scoreless streak to 20⅔ innings.
Philadelphia’s offense backed him up in a big way, piling up six runs on 10 hits. Schwarber launched two more home runs to take over the major league lead with 16, while Bryce Harper went back-to-back with Schwarber in the first inning. Marsh also stayed red hot, going 4-for-4 to raise his batting average to .353 on the season.
The Phillies took the series, two games to one, and continued their strong stretch under Don Mattingly.
Philadelphia is off on Monday before opening a road trip in Boston on Tuesday to face the Red Sox. The projected pitching matchups for the series are Zack Wheeler, Andrew Painter, and Jesús Luzardo.
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