Categories: 2020 Postgame Recaps

Phillies lose Sunday night slugfest to Braves

Final Score: Braves 12, Phillies 10

In one of the most thrilling slugfests of the 2020 season, the Phillies came up just short.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 30: Phillies SP Jake Arrieta (49) pitches in the first inning during the game between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies on August 30, 2020 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

Both starting pitchers gave up seven earned runs. Both teams batted around in the early innings. Both teams scored double-digit runs. Both teams’ bullpen held up relatively well, but the Braves came away with the victory in the series finale. The two sides split the season series and the Phillies are now three games out of first place.

The Phillies will begin a four-game series at home against the Washington Nationals on Monday. Spencer Howard will make his first start since Aug. 20 against Toronto. He will be opposed by Erick Fedde, who allowed seven runs in his last start against the Phillies on Aug. 25.

Top Plays

Arrieta’s second inning of work was as ugly as it gets. He allowed five runs while getting only one out. In all, he was charged with seven earned runs as two of his inherited runners scored. Austin Riley opened the scoring with a double to center field. Three batters later, Arrieta surrendered a bases-loaded walk to Dansby Swanson, making it a 2-0 game.

It gets worse. One of the greatest Phillies-killers of all time — Freddie Freeman — singled the opposite way. Two runs scored on the play as left fielder Phil Gosselin bobbled the ball. The fielding miscue allowed Freeman to advance to second and Swanson to third. The next batter Marcell Ozuna earned an infield hit on a ball that took Rhys Hoskins out of the play. Scott Kingery had to sprint to second after Arrieta failed to cover first. Ozuna had beaten Kingery to the bag and Arrieta was pulled after just an inning and a third.
It gets even worse. David Hale, who had not pitched in 19 days, made his Phillies debut after being acquired by the team nine days ago via trade. He surrendered five hits, including a two-run home to left-center field off Reily. In all, 13 Atlanta hitters came to plate in the second. 10 runs scored.

Things started to get better. The Phillies got on the board with a Didi Gregorius solo home run to right field, making it a 10-1 game. It was probably one of the saddest home runs of the Phillies’ season.

The Phillies responded to the Braves’ big inning with one of their own in the third. It all started with another infield hit from the speedy Roman Quinn, who scored on an Andrew McCutchen double. The next batter Hoskins launched his third home run in four games to make it 10-4. Unfortunately, cardboard cutouts cannot be placed in the aisle. That’s a fire hazard.

The Phillies went on to score three more runs in the inning and bat around. When McCutchen came to the plate for the second time in the inning, he was the tying run. Highlights from the inning include a triple from Gregorius.
Jean Segura’s fourth-inning single up the middle inched the Phillies closer to tying the game. The team ended the inning stranding the tying run at first with the score remaining at 10-8.
Marcell Ozuna singled to left and scored Camargo to make it an 11-8 game. The earned run was accredited to Reggie McClain, who Camargo doubled off of at the beginning of the inning. JoJo Romero came in and got the first two outs, but walked Freeman. Blake Parker allowed the hit from Ozuna.
Both offenses were silent from the fifth all the way until the eighth. Quinn and McCutchen went back-to-back to cut the lead to one. It was the second time this season the Phillies hit back-to-back home runs.

After going 0-for-4 with a walk in his previous at-bats, Swanson drove a ball into the bushes in center field to give Mark Melancon a two-run lead to work with in the ninth.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Jake Arrieta: 1 1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 46 pitches

Honestly, it’s hard to be at the top of your profession one year and fall so hard in such a short period of time. Aug. 30 marked the five-year anniversary of Arrieta’s first career no-hitter and tonight proved he is as far away from his prime as he could possibly be. It’s surprising considering he had one of the best outings of his Phillies career against the Nationals his last time out.

Tommy Milone: 2 1/3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 55 pitches

Prior to the game, Milone flew from Buffalo to Philadelphia on a private jet. He was traded from the Orioles to the Braves early Sunday and was named the starter for tonight’s game. Before today, all the Braves had in the starting rotation were Max Fried and a few arms that ensured the spectacular bullpen was working overtime. It seems as if that’s still the case.

Since this was mostly a bullpen game, here were some pitching lines for the guys out of the ‘pen.

Braves bullpen

Luke Jackson: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
A.J. Minter: 1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Chris Martin: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Shane Greene: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Will Smith: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Mark Melancon: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Phillies bullpen

David Hale: 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, O K
Reggie McClain: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
JoJo Romero: 2/3 IP, 0 H, O ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Blake Parker: 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Vince Velasquez: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Heath Hembree: 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Adam Morgan: 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: the Braves bullpen

The big reason why the Braves are in first place in the National League East despite not having a semblance of a normal starting rotation is because their bullpen is so strong. Despite carrying a heavy workload in the series, the bullpen only surrendered three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings.

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