The Phillies were in the Bronx to face the Yankees for a tough three-game series before heading home for the home opener. They lost the series, but they did get their first win of the season.
GAME ONE
This was another game to forget. Taijuan Walker made his Phillies debut, and all things considered, he did not do a bad job.
The first inning was disastrous. At one point, the bases were loaded with no outs. They managed to get out of it by only allowing two runs. After that inning, Walker really settled in and only allowed one more run, a home run by Torres, in the remaining four innings he pitched. A 3-1 score, thanks to Sosa hitting Bohm in, is something this lineup should be able to bounce back from on most nights. Yunior Marte was put in to relieve Walker and it very quickly got out of hand. He allowed five runs in the fifth inning, including a two-run blast by Rizzo 387 feet into the short porch. Marsh also had an error in center field and was thrown out at third base because of a miscue with Dusty Wathan.
The team had 11 hits the entire game but only managed to get one run on the board. That’s obviously not good, but something that can be worked on and improved during the season. It will not always be like this.
GAME TWO
With all of the injuries to our pitchers, Strahm was given the ball to start game two of the series and he pitched out of his mind. We also saw our first Schwarbomb of the season, the 200th of his career, and our first Marsh blast later in the game. They actually scored with RISP this game, too. Turner hit in Marsh and Schwarber hit in Stubbs. We also saw multi-hit games from Turner, Schwarber, Stott, and Cave.
This was a fun game to watch, even with the scare in the ninth inning. Alvarado, Bellatti, and Brogdon all followed up the Strahm gem with gems of their own, allowing just one hit (Brogdon) combined. Kimbrel made it interesting in the ninth inning, allowing a home run, a walk, and a single but he closed it out and the Phils got their win. He’s not the closer he once was, but a win is a win.
GAME THREE
The vibes were higher for this game. The fans saw what the Phillies did the day before and Aaron Nola was on the mound to close out the series. What could go wrong? Quite a bit, apparently. Marsh got hurt in game two and Hall got hurt this game. Not fun.
Aaron Nola pitched a great game, going six innings with three earned runs, and five strikeouts. Gregory Soto relieved him and gave up a two-run home run to Trevino, then Dominguez closed out the ninth inning Nola was credited with the loss due to him allowing a baserunner, but Soto is the one that blew the game.
a Schwarber home run and a Cave had a sac-fly to score in Castellanos were the only two runs the Phils could get with only five total hits. Stott, again, with a multi-hit game to raise his batting average to .435
Stott (.435), Turner (.370), and Bohm (.350) are continuing their hot starts and Schwarber seems to be heating up. Castellanos has had some bad luck at the plate that does not show up on a stat sheet, so don’t worry about his batting just yet. This team as a whole is hitting the baseball, they’re just not scoring the runs. Not the start we wanted or were expecting, and we were the last to get a win this season, but the Reds are up next for the home opener, rescheduled to Friday. See you there.
