Categories: 2019 Postgame Recaps

Phillies complete comeback to defeat Padres, win series

Bryce Harper laced an RBI double Wednesday. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

When the Philadelphia Phillies inked Jake Arrieta to a three-year/$75 million deal ahead of the 2018 season, they didn’t expect to get the production that allowed Arrieta to win the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. Certainly, though, general manager Matt Klentak envisioned Arrieta would give the Phillies more than he did Wednesday afternoon and has for much of his tenure with the team thus far.

Luckily for Arrieta, the Phillies offense made up for his poor performance Wednesday. With help from Vince Velasquez and Hector Neries, that allowed the Phillies to win their 35th game of the 2019 season.

Looking to salvage a six-game road trip that saw them drop the first four games, the Phillies turned to Arrieta Wednesday afternoon. The Phillies even jumped out to an early lead in his defense.

In the top of the second inning, Jay Bruce and Scott Kingery – which is becoming one of the great duos in Phillies history – teamed up to get the Phillies on the board. Just as Bruce did in Tuesday night’s win, he reached base in his first at-bat on a double. And, like Tuesday, he was plated by Scott Kingery, who reached base on a double of his own to give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead.

After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Arrieta allowed Manny Machado to reach base on a two-out double, with Eric Hosmer following that up with a walk. Josh Naylor – who the Phillies once thought they were going to acquire for Jeremy Hellickson – brought those two and himself home in the next at-bat with a three-run home run:

Center fielder Wil Myers followed that up with a solo shot of his own, giving the Padres a 4-1 lead before you had a chance to blink:

While the Phillies didn’t even the game in the top of the fourth, Bruce – who else? – cut the Padres lead to two with his third home run in two days:

Friday, Bruce will play his first home game at Citizens Bank Park, ironically against the team he’s spent the bulk of his career with, the Cincinnati Reds. But Phillies fans have quickly taken a liking to the 32-year-old, because those present at Petco Park Wednesday afternoon serenaded him with “Bruuuuce” chants as he rounded the bases.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, after Bryce Harper narrowly missed hitting an opposite-field home run to end the top of the fifth, the Padres added onto their lead in the home half of the inning. Following a Myers steal, Ty France singled home Myers, who was one of five walks that Arrieta had on the day. Ultimately, Velasquez had to come into the game to keep the Padres from scoring any more insurance runs in the fifth. Velasquez would pitch an 1.1 scoreless in relief of Arrieta, which proved to be crucial.

With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, the Phillies erased the Padres three-run lead. With Adam Haseley on first base after his first career walk, Cesar Hernandez laced a two-out triple into the right field corner that allowed Haseley to score from first base.

Craig Stammen came in to face Harper, but with two strikes, Harper drove an RBI double into the right-center field gap, which scored Hernandez and allowed Harper to reach the 20 doubles mark two months quicker than he did a season ago. Harper would ultimately score on an RBI single off the bat of Jean Segura, which tied the game.

After Jose Alvarez and Juan Nicasio teamed up to pitch a clean bottom of the seventh inning, Stammen stayed in to pitch the eighth inning, and again fell victim to the Phillies recent propensity to do damage with two outs. After Scott Kingery worked a two-out walk, Adam Haseley hit a ball down the third base line, which kicked off the side of the wall, allowing Kingery to score all the way from first base. Andrew Knapp hit a ball through the open shift on the left side of the infield to score Haseley, giving the Phillies a two-run lead.

But wait, there’s more.

Hector Neris was forced into action with two on and one out in the eighth inning, after Seranthony Dominguez left the game injured. Things didn’t start out well for Neris, who walked Greg Garcia to load the bases. However, Neris came back from that by striking out Kinsler with a filthy splitter up-and-in. He then got Machado to flair a ball that appeared like it was headed for no-man’s-land. Instead, Segura made a tremendous play to get to the ball and end the inning.

In the ninth, Neris set the Padres down in order to complete a five-out save to help the Phillies to win their series against the Padres.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

As the Phillies looked to salvage a series victory over the Padres Wednesday, Arrieta wasn’t able to deliver a strong performance, giving up five runs for the second consecutive start. Unlike last Friday in Los Angeles, Arrieta wasn’t even able to make it out of the fifth inning today.

In total, Arrieta now has a 4.29 ERA in 13 starts in 2019. As Phillies Nation‘s Jonny Heller noted, dating back to his April 27 start against the Miami Marlins, Arrieta has gone 2-3 with a 5.32 ERA, 1.664 WHIP and 1.97 HR/9. Never mind being a No. 2 in the Phillies rotation, since a strong start to the season, Arrieta has largely pitched like a No. 5 starter.

Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: Jean Segura

Jean Segura took some slack this week for slipping in the batter’s box and then not ultimately running hard to first base on a pop fly to Ian Kinsler in game one of the Phillies series with the Padres. With Kinsler aware that Segura wasn’t running, he allowed the ball to drop, threw out Segura and then got Andrew McCutchen in a rundown. McCutchen ultimately tore his ACL attempting to escape the rundown.

While it’s unfair to place any blame for McCutchen’s injury on Segura, he certainly wanted to atone for not running to first base. He did just that Wednesday, going 3-5, with one of his three hits tying the game at five in the top of the seventh. Additionally, while the box score may not reflect this, Segura may have saved the game for the Phillies with two outs in the eighth inning, as he made a tremendous play to keep a Manny Machado bloop from dropping with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning.

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