Final Score: Phillies 7, Braves 3
One day after the Philadelphia Phillies won a game they probably didn’t fully deserve to win, they began a crucial NL East road trip with a win over the Atlanta Braves they definitely did deserve to win.
The Phillies’ offense — which scored all of 10 earned runs in a tough six-game homestand last week — nearly approached that total on Monday, scoring seven runs on 10 hits. That was more than enough for Zack Wheeler, who fired 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and struck out 10 along the way.
There was some doubt — the score was once 7-1, so there had to be — but Connor Brogdon struck out Austin Riley with two on and two out in the eighth to end the Braves’ last real threat of the night.
It was one of the more complete games of the season for the Phillies, and it came at a great time in their first matchup against Atlanta this year — and, for what it’s worth, a battle for second place in the NL East. The 2022 Phillies are 20-22.
Cashing in
The ballgame started off on a foreboding note, with Rhys Hoskins and Alec Bohm working a walk and single, respectively, to put two on with no outs. Bryce Harper got jammed on a groundout to first, but it moved the runners over, and the Phillies were still in great position to strike first.
That is — until Nick Castellanos and Jean Segura both grounded out unproductively, ending the inning with a missed opportunity already under their belt.
It would be their only. The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the second, and Hoskins worked a full count before smoking the seventh pitch of the at-bat into right-center field for a bases-clearing three-run double. Hoskins, whose frustrations from a 1-for-12 Dodgers series were visible when he repeatedly kicked a trash can in the Citizens Bank Park dugout on Sunday, took those frustrations out on a Tucker Davidson meatball for a 3-0 lead:
In the third inning, J.T. Realmuto cashed in on a Kyle Schwarber two-out walk by tripling down the left field line to make it 4-0.
Roman Quinn then kept the two-out rally alive with a two-run double (which, yes, should have been caught), and Johan Camargo pulled off a wizardous slide to make it 6-0:
Castellanos grounded into a double play after the Phillies put two on with no outs in the fourth, but Segura picked up his teammate by slapping a two-out RBI single to center.
They wasted a leadoff single from Camargo in the fifth, but who cares? The Phillies started the game 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and went a much-better 3-for-9 from there on out.
Savor it: The Phillies out-defensed someone
The Phillies were not supposed to have a good defense this year. They (-19 defensive runs saved, last in baseball) don’t. The Braves were supposed to have a good defense this year. They (7 DRS, 15th in baseball) do.
Monday was an anomaly both ways.
Quinn threw a 99.9 mph hose to nail William Contereras at the plate in the first, a play that would’ve otherwise given the Braves the early lead:
Meanwhile, the Braves struggled mightily in the field. Bohm’s single in the first could have possibly been caught with a better route by Contreras. Adam Duvall briefly bobbled the ball in center on Hoskins’ three-run double. Quinn’s two-run double was the product of a miscommunication between Duvall and Ronald Acuña Jr. Harper singled on a pop-up to shallow left that fell after Riley misread it and Contreras didn’t take charge. Contreras misjudged where Realmuto’s triple would roll, allowing known speedster Schwarber to score from first.
Jeurys Familia’s slip-and-throw that put two Braves in scoring position in the seventh should be mentioned out of fairness, but that was the one miscue — and it didn’t cost the Phillies, as Acuña popped out to end the inning.
Nights like these won’t come around often, so soak it in while you can.
Schwarber demonstrates his value
Schwarber (five-game hitting streak entering Monday) has been better of late, but it still hasn’t been the start of the season he or the Phillies envisioned. Still, Schwarber on Monday showed the on-base ability that makes him a valuable piece of the Phillies’ lineup even when he’s not at his best.
Schwarber went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and three walks, earning those free passes on three full counts and a combined 23 pitches. The first two walks — one with zero outs, one with two — began three-run rallies in the second and third.
Obviously, that’s not his ceiling offensively, nor is the .760 OPS he boasted at the end of the night. But Schwarber is a notoriously streaky hitter, and while it’s easy (and justified) to get frustrated when he’s not right, he’ll almost always give you a professional plate appearance, see a lot of pitches and at least give himself a chance. That’s what happened on Monday, and it helped the Phillies big time.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
Zack Wheeler: 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO, 0 HR, 105 pitches
The eight in the hit column feels somewhat misleading as far as Wheeler’s dominance goes, though probably because all of them happened in either a scoreless first inning or when the game was largely out of reach. At one point across the first through fifth innings, Wheeler retired 11 straight Braves, striking out eight of them. He was locating his fastball, blowing by hitters and mixing in his slider effectively, using that repertoire to lower his ERA to 3.38.
Tucker Davidson: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 76 pitches
Yes, Davidson’s line could have been even worse had he not worked out of trouble in the first — but it’s generous to give him tons of credit, as Castellanos’ one-out grounder found Matt Olson all alone on the right side of the infield and would’ve scored two more had it not. Anyway, Davidson struggled with his command for the entirety of his brief outing, either walking batters or getting into three-ball counts that forced him to serve up meatballs (see: Hoskins’ bases-clearing double). That combination resulted in a short outing — which was somehow tied for only the third-shortest of Davidson’s seven big league starts.
Phillies Nuggets Of The Game
- Zack Wheeler has a 1.38 ERA in his last five starts. He’s gone at least six innings in five of them, including Monday:
- Here’s a stat that is both interesting and pointless:
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Tuesday, May 24 vs. Atlanta Braves at Truist Park
- 7:20 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB.TV Free Game of the Day
- Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP, WTTM1680
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