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Can’t Win ’em All: Phillies’ Bats Go Silent in 4-1 Loss

April 11, 2022
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Eh, season-opening sweeps are overrated anyway.

I promise.

The 2019 and 2021 Phillies both recorded season-opening sweeps at home en route to forgettable finishes. Of the team’s 2007-2011 playoff seasons, only the 2011 Phillies started on the right side of a sweep. All of which is to say the end result of a single early-April baseball game that felt more like a Week 14 football game at Lincoln Financial Field means very little.

And that’s my best shot at providing a silver lining to disappointed Phillies fans following their team’s quiet 4-1 loss to the Athletics, one in which its potent offense was held to just three hits.

After five scoreless innings, the Phillies finally faced their first deficit of the season in the sixth when Oakland’s Seth Brown deposited a two-out single into left field off Phillies reliever Bailey Falter.

The deficit would double an inning later when Billy McKinney took a hanging 1-2 Falter curveball out to right for a solo homer.

With the dream of 162-0 dead and gone, let’s jump into some observations.

Tough Luck, Man

A’s starting pitcher Daulton Jefferies needed just 32 pitches to cruise through the first four innings. Then again, he did have some luck on his side.

Four balls off the bats of Phillies hitters had an exit velocity of at least 103 mph, none of which resulted in hits:

  • Nick Castellanos, second inning: 103.3 mph exit velocity/.880 expected batting average
  • Rhys Hoskins, second inning: 107.1 mph exit velocity/.730 expected batting average
  • Matt Vierling, third inning: 109.1 mph exit velocity/.350 expected batting average
  • Bryce Harper, fourth inning: 112.7 mph exit velocity/.870 expected batting average

What’s the Rush?

Jefferies would end his day having thrown just 48 pitches over five-plus innings. Of the Phillies’ 18 at-bats against him, 12 would end in three pitches or less. In fact, seven at-bats ended on the first pitch.

Then Again…

How did everybody like home plate umpire Ben May’s work in this one? Didn’t like it very much, did you?

Neither did the Phillies.

Can’t say I blame the early hacks with calls like this one deeper in counts:

One pitch rarely makes or breaks a game, but don’t overlook the importance of this particular one. Instead of Kyle Schwarber hitting in a 3-2 count with no outs and a runner on first in a 1-0 game, he instead headed back to the dugout having made the first out.

The blown call by May, which everyone in the park seemed to know was a blown call except the guy paid to get it right, changed the entire complexion of the inning.

On the bright side, the Phillies are definitely back. I saw multiple angry tweets aimed at the MLB Umpires Association throughout the game. That’s how you know the team matters. Brings flashbacks of Eagles fans going in on Dean Blandino back in the day.

Ah, memories. 

Eflin Battles Through Four

It wasn’t the most efficient of debuts for Phillies starting pitcher Zach Eflin. He gutted through a 68-pitch outing in which he battled his command a little bit, but he was able to bear down and keep things scoreless through his four innings of work.

In the third inning, it appeared the Phillies would face their first deficit of the season. Following a leadoff walk and a pair of singles, Oakland loaded the bases with no outs. Elvis Andrus lined a 2-0 elevated sinker back at Eflin, who snagged it before spinning to second to finish a key double play.

With second baseman Jean Segura shaded up the middle, the ball may not have gotten through. In fact, it probably would have resulted in a double play, but it would have almost certainly scored an early go-ahead run.

Center of Attention

There’s no need to smash the panic button on the Phillies’ center field situation quite yet, but this probably wasn’t the weekend Matt Vierling had envisioned for himself.

Despite making some hard contact, he was held hitless across three games (0-for-8) and bounced into a rally-killing double play in the third inning that helped squash the Phillies’ lone true scoring threat with the game’s outcome in question.

Of course, any angst over the Phillies’ center field situation is understandable after the position produced just .230/.298/.363 slash line last season.

The post Can’t Win ’em All: Phillies’ Bats Go Silent in 4-1 Loss appeared first on Crossing Broad.

https://www.crossingbroad.com/2022/04/cant-win-em-all-phillies-bats-go-silent-in-4-1-loss.html

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