Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Phillies go back-and-forth with Pirates, but can’t pull out a win

Bryce Harper walked three times in the Phillies’ 6-4 loss against Pittsburgh. (Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score (10 innings): Pirates 6, Phillies 4

Since returning to the big leagues on June 17, Cristopher Sánchez has done more than what he has been asked to do as the Phillies fifth starter. Entering today, the 26-year-old southpaw posted a 2.61 ERA along with a very low 0.95 walks-per-nine-innings-pitched over his last seven starts.

He was also coming off the best outing of his career in which he pitched a career-high seven innings while also striking out a career-high eight batters last Monday against the Orioles.

So to no surprise, the young southpaw continued to pitch well in this afternoon’s series finale at PNC Park against the Pirates. The first batter he faced, Connor Joe, flied out to center field to start the bottom of the first. After that, a ball did not leave the infield against Sánchez as he worked his way through five no-hit innings.

Overall, Sánchez induced eight ground ball outs, including two double plays, while hitting three batters, walking another two and striking out three on 73 pitches. His five-inning, no-run effort lowered his ERA since mid-June to 2.30.

But despite having a no-hitter going, and a low pitch count, manager Rob Thomson decided to pull Sánchez from the game — a somewhat questionable decision that was likely made because the lefty had already gone through Pittsburgh’s lineup twice.

Either way, with baseball being the way that it is sometimes, the Pirates recorded their first hit and two runs of this afternoon’s contest in the bottom of the sixth against new pitcher Seranthony Domínguez.

After allowing a lead-off single to Joe, Domínguez quickly surrendered a game-tying, two-run home run to Bryan Reynolds:

Two batters and one out later, the right-handed reliever walked Henry Davis, gave up a hit to Jared Triolo and was then removed from the game in favor of Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman allowed a single to load the bases, but got back-to-back outs to end Pittsburgh’s threat.

Reynolds’ homer only tied the game because the Phillies were able to add a pair of runs in the the top of the fourth inning. Following one of Bryce Harper’s three walks, Alec Bohm launched his 10th home run of the year to right-center field:

The Harper-Bohm combo added another pair of runs to the scoreboard a half inning after Pittsburgh’s two-run sixth. With runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh, Harper singled on a ball that hit off Joe’s glove and rolled into foul territory. Garrett Stubbs scored all the way from second on the play to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.

Bohm then singled on a liner to right field to notch his third RBI of the afternoon to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

Defensive miscues — something that plagued the Phillies in last night’s loss — led to a Pirates run in the seventh. The home team then threatened to take the lead an inning later as they got runners to second and third with nobody out against right-hander Yunior Marte.

Marte did allow the tying run to score on a sacrifice fly, but like Hoffman, worked himself out of a jam that could’ve been much worse.

The Pirates put more traffic on the bases against Craig Kimbrel in the bottom of the ninth with the game still tied at four, but could not capitalize as Kimbrel got three straight outs to send the game to extras.

Entering extra innings has been a favorable outcome for the Phillies this season more often than not. They brought a 7-2 record in extra-inning games into today’s game, but after this base running blunder by Bohm and Harper in the top of the 10th, the Phillies were seemingly doomed:

The Pirates walked things off in the bottom half of the inning to hand Philadelphia their third extra-inning loss of the season:

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