Categories: 2024 Postgame Recaps

Walker, unsightly defense loom large as Phillies lose consecutive games for first time in over a month

Taijuan Walker struggled on Monday, and the Phillies’ defense didn’t help him. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

SAN FRANCISCO — The Phillies lost two of three to a far inferior Rockies team in Colorado over the weekend, but it wasn’t particularly ugly, per se. They simply didn’t hit. “Just one of those weekends,” Rob Thomson said.

Monday was less excusable. The Phillies had a field day — and not in a good way — on defense throughout the series opener in San Francisco, only making a rough Taijuan Walker outing rougher. It added up to a second straight loss, the first such instance for Philadelphia since April 23 and 24 in Cincinnati.

There were other culprits (more on them later), but Alec Bohm was at the center of the defensive woes. His throw pulled Bryce Harper off the bag on a leadoff infield single (as it was ruled) by Luis Matos in the fifth, then he whiffed on a grounder by Thairo Estrada two batters later. That scored a run; another would come around in the inning to turn a 4-3 Phillies lead into a 5-4 Giants one.

Then, in the seventh — the inning after Walker surrendered a sixth run (fifth earned) — Bohm took far too long to get the ball out of his glove on a routine grounder, which became an infield single, again by Estrada. Bohm then committed his second defined error of the day, and third in two games, when Matt Chapman grounded one past him on the next play. (Bohm had another misplay in the eighth, but it was ruled a hit.)

“It was a tough day today. Tough day defensively. He had some tough plays. Couple plays he should’ve made. But he’s gotta keep moving forward,” Thomson said postgame. “I mean, he’s a good defender. He’s a lot better than he was when he first got here. And you have one bad day, you’ve gotta turn the page and keep going.”

Thomson added that Bohm’s status for Tuesday’s lineup will be in question because of some nagging injuries.

José Ruiz almost worked his way out of the jam. A pop-up to Whit Merrifield with two on and one out helped — until a backpedaling Merrifield botched it as Nick Castellanos, who earlier had started in on a catchable LaMonte Wade Jr. RBI double over his head in the fifth, didn’t call him off.

“I think the way Whit was set up, I think Casty thought he was camped under it,” Thomson said. “But I don’t think he was. I think it was a little tougher play than what everybody sees. But you know, we gotta play better.”

Two runs scored in that inning, giving the Giants three unearned runs in the ballgame. Of the five earned runs, three came in a second inning that saw Walker walk one and surrender four hits, including a double.

The Phillies had righted the ship after that inning. Kyle Schwarber nearly found McCovey Cove on a two-run homer in the third and an Edmundo Sosa triple kickstarted a two-run fourth.

The defense in the fifth was what relinquished that advantage, but Thomson’s decision to keep Walker in for the sixth was curious. The Phillies’ bullpen, including Matt Strahm, was mostly fresh. Zack Wheeler pitches Tuesday. There’s an off day Thursday.

“Well, we’re in a down game,” Thomson said. “I was happy with the way he was throwing, I was happy with his pitch count. And who knows what Wheeler does tomorrow? … I thought [Walker’s] stuff was better tonight. Velo ticked up, the splitter got better. There were innings when he was really locating his fastball. We just — we didn’t help him defensively.”

As it turned out, Monday was an off day for just about everyone. The Phillies still lead the division by six games, with the Ronald Acuña Jr.-less Braves losing as well. The Phillies are 38-17.

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