Nightmare game ends with injuries to Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber
Final Score: Marlins 7, Phillies 4
Zack Wheeler is as even keeled as they come, but he had good reason to lose his cool.
Though he didn’t have his best stuff, Wheeler was a strike away from completing seven innings for the ninth time this season. With a 1-2 count, two out and his pitch count at 109 and Ali Sánchez up to bat, home plate umpire Emil Jimenez missed a strike three on the outside corner. The call extended the at-bat by five more pitches and ended in a single. As Wheeler walked off the mound, he stared down the home plate umpire.
Wheeler lingered around the tunnel only to see Matt Strahm have his worst outing of the season with two of his runners still on base. The Phillies lefty hit Jazz Chisholm Jr. to load the bases, then allowed a bases-clearing double to Bryan De La Cruz and another double to Josh Bell all in a span of six pitches to make it a 4-3 game. It was a rare hiccup from Strahm, who allowed his first inherited runner to score since May 8.
The Phillies followed up with Jeff Hoffman after tying the game in the bottom of the seventh, but Miami’s Jake Burger ambushed a hanging slider and deposited it into the left field seats to retake the lead. Nick Gordon then slapped a double to right field two pitches in and late advanced to third on a wild pitch. With the infield in, the Phillies got Lopez to ground to shortstop, but the ball went right past Edmundo Sosa at shortstop to score a sixth Miami run.
The Phillies came into the game 44-2 when leading after six innings. Their win probability peaked at 94% after Wheeler recorded the second out of seventh. The loss stings, but it doesn’t hurt as much as the two injuries suffered late in the game. Kyle Schwarber was lifted in the ninth — and was not on-deck in the eighth — due to left groin tightness and Bryce Harper came up limping after running out a ground ball in the bottom of the ninth.
Scary stuff.
Highlights
- Harper extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI double in the first inning to straight away center, scoring Trea Turner from first.
- Rafael Marchan continues to impact the baseball. He hit his second home run of the season, this time from the right side, to extend the Phillies’ lead to 2-0.
- Sosa made it 3-0 on an RBI single to the left side of the field. He now has 20 RBIs this season.
- Wheeler told the home plate umpire, “This is on you,” after the three runs came in on the De La Cruz double. Both sides were frustrated with Jimenez’s inconsistent zone and hesitation on certain ball and strike calls.
Notes
- MLB announced during the game that Harper will start at first base for the National League in this year’s All-Star Game after receiving the most votes among all position players in the first round of voting. Let’s hope he can play in the game.
- Spencer Turnbull was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain. He is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. Our own Tim Kelly has more on the news.
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