Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Phillies offense continues to struggle in loss to Blue Jays

Kyle Schwarber went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Tuesday’s loss against the Blue Jays. (Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Blue Jays 2, Phillies 1

With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, Blue Jays outfielder George Springer hit a ground ball to Alec Bohm. Shifting to his left, Bohm bravely went for the low probability play and hurled the ball to home plate. Catcher J.T. Realmuto stretched to his right to retrieve a ball that probably should have gone to the backstop. Somehow, Realmuto kept his foot on the plate and the lead runner Nathan Lukes was out at home.

Crisis averted, for now. Seranthony Domínguez, who walked two batters and allowed a single on a play that should have been an error on Kyle Schwarber, needed just one more out to keep the game tied.

But the right-hander yanked a pitch and hit Cavan Biggio in the foot to drive in the go-ahead run for Toronto.

Domínguez will get the blame for the loss, but the Phillies (65-55) once again needed to put together better at-bats against high quality pitching and that did not happen.

The Phillies’ top seven hitters, Schwarber, Bohm, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott, Trea Turner and Realmuto combined to go 1-for-24 with 10 strikeouts in a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The very bottom of the order was productive.

No. 9 hitter Johan Rojas got in front of a hanging curveball on the inside part of the plate and drove it into left field to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth. Edmundo Sosa, who had two hits in Tuesday’s game, scored from first.

With Rojas at second and nobody out, the top of the Phillies order went down quietly on nine pitches. Schwarber was caught looking, Bohm lined out to right field and Harper popped up to first base.

Sosa and Rojas combined for three of the Phillies’ four hits on the night.

The Blue Jays then tied the game in the bottom half of the sixth inning. After allowing a single and a walk to open the inning, starter Zack Wheeler had to bear down and limit the damage against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He got the young slugger to hit a well-located sweeper back to the mound for a smooth 1-4-3 double play.

He was a strike away from getting out of the inning, but a 2-2 sinker leaked just over the middle of the plate and George Springer hit it up the middle for a game-tying RBI base knock.

It was the only run Wheeler allowed in what was another solid start for the Phillies ace. He threw seven innings, allowed three hits and struck out five for his 15th quality start of the season. Wheeler, who has a 3.63 ERA on the season, came into this game tied for the National League lead in FanGraphs WAR (4.3) and is quietly putting together a season worthy of Cy Young consideration.

After scoring only two runs in the last three games against opposing starters Pablo Lopez, Sonny Gray and Yusei Kikuchi, the Phillies will have to shake off their slump against another AL Cy Young candidate, Kevin Gausman, on Wednesday.

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