After scoring two early runs, the Phillies found themselves trailing the Dodgers after the third inning on Monday night. Aaron Nola, who got through the first two innings of his start with ease, was hit hard in the bottom of the third inning en route to allowing four runs. Four of the seven balls put in play against him in the frame had exit velocities north of 108 mph.
While the Dodgers continued to hit him hard, Nola settled back in after his 26-pitch third inning. He stranded a leadoff double in the fourth and stranded a runner at third in the fifth. Altogether, 11 of the 20 balls put in play against Nola had exit velocities of 95 mph or more. Seven of them came off the bat at 105-plus mph. The veteran’s night was over after six innings of eight-hit, four-run ball.
As for the offense, they scored only one more run after plating two runs in the second inning. Their best late-inning opportunity to tie the game came in the eighth. Kyle Schwarber worked a leadoff walk and Brandon Marsh eventually stepped to the plate with two runners on and two outs. But Marsh struck out swinging against left-hander Anthony Banda, ending his club’s threat.
With their loss, the Phillies have now dropped 14 of their last 19 games and have lost seven consecutive series-opening games.
Highlights
The Phillies opened the scoring with a pair of two-out runs in the top of the second. After tripling, Nick Castellanos scored on a Bryson Stott infield single. Stott, who advanced to third on an Austin Hays single, then scored on a wild pitch by Tyler Glasnow.
The Dodgers took a two-run lead after scoring their four runs in the bottom of the third. After back-to-back doubles plated L.A.’s first run of the inning, a Shohei Ohtani RBI sac fly tied the game and a Teoscar Hernández two-run homer made it a 4-2 game.
An Alec Bohm RBI groundout scored Schwarber from third base in the sixth, bringing the Phillies within a run of the Dodgers.
Ohtani homered in the bottom of the eighth, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-3.
Notes
With the Braves off on Monday, the Phillies’ lead in the NL East is now 5.5 games.
Earlier in the season when all the naysayers were telling everyone the Phillies had a easy schedule, I agreed with them. I knew July and August were going to get a lot of turbulence, back then. And now, here we are.
We had an easy schedule and everyone performed over their head. Now that the sample size is larger our bullpen is just average and we really only have 1 starting pitcher guaranteed to win his start.
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Earlier in the season when all the naysayers were telling everyone the Phillies had a easy schedule, I agreed with them. I knew July and August were going to get a lot of turbulence, back then. And now, here we are.
We had an easy schedule and everyone performed over their head. Now that the sample size is larger our bullpen is just average and we really only have 1 starting pitcher guaranteed to win his start.