Eflin and Pivetta scuffle for Phillies in loss to Padres

After jumping out to an early lead Saturday, the Philadelphia Phillies were unable to hold on as their winning streak ended at four games. Starter Zach Eflin struggled to put hitters away, the Phillies offense went quiet, and the Padres evened the series up at 1-1.

In the top of the first, Eflin worked around a walk to Josh Naylor and a base hit by Eric Hosmer to keep the game scoreless into the bottom of the frame. The Phillies got one baserunner against Padres starter Dinelson Lamet on a misplayed J.T. Realmuto liner to second, but Dickerson struck out looking to end the inning.

A Hunter Renfroe double to lead off the top of the second spelled trouble for Eflin, but a strikeout followed by two quick groundouts got him out of the inning quickly with no damage.

Jean Segura responded with a leadoff double of his own in the bottom half of the inning, giving the Phillies the opportunity for an early lead. After Cesar Hernandez flied out to shallow left, Scott Kingery ripped a double into left field to put the Phillies up 1-0. An Adam Haseley strikeout brought Eflin up with two outs, and he hit a single up the middle to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Eflin ran into more trouble in the third with another Naylor walk and Hosmer base hit, but he was again able to get through it with no damage despite throwing 25 pitches in the inning.  J.T. Realmuto stayed hot for the Phillies in the bottom half of the inning, crushing a solo shot to left to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead:

Realmuto’s 9th home run since the All-Star break, and it was a laser pic.twitter.com/EHkxIGwHg7

— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) August 18, 2019

In the top of the fourth, Eflin’s inability to put hitters away finally caught up to him. Another leadoff hit to Renfroe – this one a single – was followed by two quick outs. But after Lamet, the pitcher, laced a base hit to left, Manuel Margot got a base hit of his own to score Renfroe. Naylor then hit an opposite-field double that scored Lamet and Margot to tie the game, and Gabe Kapler removed Eflin from the game in favor of Nick Pivetta

Pivetta was able to get the last out of the fourth, but did not fare well in the fifth. Hosmer led things off with an infield single, and Renfroe walked after a Francisco Mejia strikeout to put two runners on for Ty France. France poked a single through the right side to score Hosmer and give the Padres the lead, and Luis Urias followed with a single of his own to score Renfroe and extend the lead to 5-3.

All of the action came early in this one, though. Lamet settled down and cruised through the fourth and fifth innings, allowing just one baserunner. In the top of the sixth, Ranger Suarez allowed one hit to Manny Machado, but was aided by another Realmuto caught stealing and got through the inning with no damage. Lamet worked around a Corey Dickerson double that led off the sixth, and handed the game off to the bullpen after settling down to retire 10 of his last 12 batters faced.

Relief pitcher Jared Hughes made his Phillies debut in the seventh. He and Blake Parker mowed the Padres down in order in the seventh and eighth, keeping the Phillies within two runs. Jose Alvarez followed with a scoreless inning of his own in the ninth, allowing just one  hit in the inning. However, the Phillies offense was unable to get anything going against the San Diego bullpen. The trio of Matt Strahm, Andres Munoz and Kirby Yates pitched three hitless innings, allowing just one baserunner and leaving the Phillies offense with no chance.

It was the Phillies worst offensive performance since Charlie Manuel arrived with the team as hitting coach. After totaling five hits and three runs in the first three innings, the Phillies only had one hit and three baserunners in the final six.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

• Zach Eflin continued his run of bad starts for the Phillies and showed just why he was moved out of the rotation in the first place. He was unable to put hitters away tonight, and it caught up to him in the fourth inning when he allowed the three runs and was removed from the game. Since starting the year with a 2.83 ERA through his first 14 starts, Eflin has been very ineffective:

Zach Eflin in his last seven starts:
30.1 IP, 10.04 ERA, 21 K, 11 BB, 9 HR, 2.143 WHIP.
He has been terrible.

— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) August 18, 2019

• Dinelson Lamet really settled down for the Padres after allowing three early runs. He was effective against a Phillies lineup that has been red-hot of late, finishing with six innings pitched and just the three runs allowed.

Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: J.T. Realmuto

It was in a losing effort, but Realmuto still shined for the Phillies in this game. His solo home run in the third was his ninth home run since the All-Star Break. He also threw out yet another would-be-basestealer, Manny Machado, and has now thrown out 33 base runners on the season. Realmuto has been the best defensive catcher in baseball all year long, and as hit bat comes alive, he is really showing why the Phillies made the move to acquire him for a steep price.

TicketIQ Next Game

• Aug. 18 at Citizens Bank Park
• 1:05 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP, WTTM 1680 (Spanish)

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