Bullpen struggles lead to brutal Opening Day loss against Braves
Zack Wheeler and Spencer Strider was billed as the best Opening Day matchup in baseball and it did not disappoint.
Both starts were abbreviated, but the Phillies were finally able to string something together against Strider in the regular season.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly enough to beat the Braves as the Phillies bullpen got its first major meltdown out of the way early.
The bullpen, the same one that’s projected to be one of the best in the game, allowed nine runs in the later innings to give the Braves a 9-3 Opening Day win over the Phillies.
Strider, who came into the game with an 8-0 record in eight games pitched against Philadelphia in the regular season, allowed only one hit through four before running into trouble in the fifth.
The way to get to Strider is to capitalize on his mistakes and make him work. The Phillies forced Strider to throw 35 pitches and scored two on a Brandon Marsh two-run home run to left-center field.
It was Marsh’s second career home run against Strider. He was the Phillies’ hottest hitter last April, batting .329 with a 1.065 OPS through the first month of the season.
As if it couldn’t get any better, Johan Rojas followed up Marsh’s home run with a six-pitch walk. It’s exactly what the Phillies are looking for out of Rojas in the ninth spot. Both at-bats got the sold out crowd of 44,452 buzzing, with “Strider” chants coming down as the Braves ace struggled.
Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner had a chance to drive in another run after Rojas stole second, but Schwarber struck out and Turner grounded out to end the inning.
Wheeler was excellent in his first career Opening Day start, allowing zero runs over six innings while striking out five. His only swing-and-miss on his new pitch, the splitter, came on a swinging strike three to Ronald Acuña Jr.
The Phillies went with Matt Strahm to follow up Wheeler against the bottom of the Braves’ lineup. After allowing a single to Michael Harris II and a double to Orlando Arcia, Rob Thomson was faced with his first real decision: go get the righty Jeff Hoffman to face pinch hitter Adam Duvall or keep Strahm in the game and have the lefty face the right-handed batter.
Thomson kept Strahm in the game and Duvall lined a double down the left field line to score two. Hoffman, the Phillies’ preferred option in troublesome situations, came in and recorded two outs against the Braves order to end the threat.
José Alvarado came into the game in the eighth to face the lefties Matt Olson and Michael Harris II. Olson opened up the inning with his second double of the afternoon and Harris II drove him in with a base hit with the infield in.
Alvarado’s command wasn’t sharp and his early-season ERA took a beating because of it. He allowed another run to score on an Acuña single and was charged with five earned runs after Connor Brogdon allowed all three inherited runners to score.
Brogdon’s first pitch of the day landed in the backstop and drove in another. A bases loaded walk to Riley scored another to make it 6-2. Olson’s third double of the afternoon cleared the bases and officially put the game out of reach.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Saturday, March 30 vs. Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park
- 4:05 p.m. EST
- NBC Sports Philadelphia+, Fox Sports 1
- 94 WIP
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