Final Score: Pirates 4, Phillies 1
PITTSBURGH — Rob Thomson penciled in his A-lineup — the one he would prefer to have against a right-handed starting pitcher in the postseason barring any trade acquisitions — for the first time since early May. J.T. Realmuto’s activation off the injured list earlier in the day made it possible.
It resulted in one run and another loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Starter Cristopher Sánchez was great through five innings, but the Pirates finally got to him in the sixth on a solo home run from Andrew McCutchen and RBI double by Oneil Cruz.
Pirates starter Luis Ortiz threw a season-high seven shutout innings, limiting the Phillies to just three hits. Their best chance to score came in the second, when Nick Castellanos doubled to give the Phillies second and third with two outs. Brandon Marsh hit into a first-pitch flyout to end the inning. He was later replaced by Weston Wilson in the eighth with the hard-throwing lefty Aroldis Chapman on the mound.
“He missed the barrels, really,” Realmuto said about Ortiz. “We got a ton of pop flys on pitches that guys felt like they were putting good swings on. We were just missing them. He was throwing that cutter that was a little deceptive, like it was going to break and we all missed it. We hit under it, hit a lot of fly balls. I thought he did a good job of keeping us off balance with that.”
Cruz has dominated this series so far. He doubled Pittsburgh’s lead to 4-0 on a two-run home run off Matt Strahm. Cruz is now 5-for-9 with six RBIs against the Phillies over the last two games.
Bryce Harper saved the top four of the Phillies lineup from going hitless with a majestic solo home run to right center.
Highlights
- Johan Rojas saved a run in the first with a diving catch on a fly ball from Nick Gonzales. All three outs in the first inning were recorded by Rojas.
- Realmuto threw out his first basestealer since May 11 to end the second.
- Sánchez was fired up after stranding Connor Joe at third following a leadoff double. Gonzales hit one to the warning track, which allowed Joe to tag for third. Sánchez later struck out Oneil Cruz and got Ke’Bryan Hayes to ground out to Bryson Stott.
- Former Phillie Andrew McCutchen gave the Bucs the lead in the sixth on a home run to center field. It’s only the third home run surrendered by Sánchez this season. Cruz later made it 2-0 on an RBI double with two outs.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Sunday, July 21 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park
- 1:35 p.m. EST
- NBC Sports Philadelphia
- 94 WIP
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Tom Dockery
July 20, 2024 at 11:42 pm
On the bright side,if the Phillies win half of their remaining games,they will finish 94-68.The team currently 4th in the wild card,Arizona,would have to go 43-20 just to tie.Even were that to happen,Arizona would likely be the top wild card.Of course,it’s more practical to look at the divisional race.
There,given a .500 Phillies team would force the Braves to go 40-25 for a tie.
For the NL’s best overall record,the Brewers would have to go 38-26 and the Dodgers 36-27 to effect ties.
It would take the Orioles only a 34-30 stretch for home field for the World Series,given that they won 2 of 3 from the Fightins’.
After the Phillies get back from that West Coast trip,we’ll revisit this.