The Phillies have made a recent habit of using big first innings to seize control against inferior opponents. It’s an ideal script to follow, but it’s also an unsustainable one, as we found out Sunday.
In fact, the Phillies couldn’t get anything going in the early, middle, or late innings against Pirates pitching in a 5-0 loss.
Despite a flat finish to the weekend, the Phillies ended an 11-game homestand, one that got off to an inauspicious start last weekend, with a 7-4 record.
In an effort to provide a “take,” I’ll tell you 7-4 gets it done. The Mets series was deflating, as was this Pirates finale, but ripping off six straight wins in between against vulnerable opponents isn’t something that just happens.
In this way, I think we’re looking at a win-win for everybody involved.
Most Phillies fans will be happy with the team’s steadily swelling postseason chances, while the “prove it to me/this team sucks/I can’t enjoy anything” crowd gets something tasty to chew on for at least a day thanks to a four-hit shutout.
Anyway, after the Phillies struck for seven combined first-inning runs to start the series, Pirates staring pitcher Roansy Contreras kept the Phillies off the board — and off-balance through five innings.
Despite facing threats in both the second and fourth innings, Contreras generated swings-and-misses on 17 of the Phillies’ 42 swings against him, while twice retiring third baseman Edmundo Sosa in key spots.
Sosa, who left a total of five runners aboard in his first two at-bats, struck out in the second inning to kill a first-and-third chance. In the fourth, the Phillies loaded the bases with two-outs before he lined out to center.
Damn pic.twitter.com/TdDwOgTY56
— Brodes Media (@BrodesMedia) August 28, 2022
And that was pretty much the story of this one.
On a day when the Phillies failed to consistently pressure the Pirates, those two misses loomed large.
No Cleanup Necessary
The Phillies successfully completed two August sweeps, but in their other three attempts to break out the brooms this month, they were held scoreless:
- Aug. 11 vs. Marlins: 3-0
- Aug. 17 at Reds: 1-0
- Aug. 28 vs. Pirates: 5-0
Does this mean anything? Probably not.
Three games is too small of a sample size to draw any conclusions. If “the offense goes quiet too often with a chance to sweep” is the biggest complaint as the calendar nears September, then things are probably going pretty damn well overall.
Mixed Results for Syndergaard
Noah Syndergaard was fine for five innings Sunday before coming unglued in the sixth against the National League’s worst scoring offense, one that began the day plating just 3.56 runs per game.
His first three pitches of the day yielded a pair of hits and a quick run, but he stabilized to allow just one more run over his next four innings.
Then things got away from him.
Bryan Reynolds began the sixth inning with a leadoff triple before scoring on a Michael Chavis single to left that made it 3-0.
Following a Rodolfo Castro base-hit that put runners on the corners with no outs, Chavis scored on a fielder’s choice, one that was the wrong choice by second baseman Jean Segura.
With the Phillies’ offense struggling, that fourth run felt like a death blow. If it wasn’t, the air fully came out of Citizens Bank Park when Bligh Madris made it 5-0 on a run-scoring double.
There’s our guy Bligh! pic.twitter.com/uSGlR5Dsmd
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 28, 2022
Through five starts, four of which have resulted in Phillies wins, the returns on Syndergaard have been mixed.
He has three quality starts, two of which lasted seven innings.
On the other hand, he has a 4.40 ERA with the Phillies. Perhaps more concerning is that he has allowed 37 hits over 30 2/3 innings since switching teams. He’s done so against competition that isn’t exactly elite: Nationals, Marlins, Reds (twice), Pirates.
Like I said, the returns have been mixed.
If you’re looking for some good news on Syndergaard, it’s probably this: after generating just two whiffs on 89 pitches against the Reds last Monday, the Pirates swung and missed at 11 of his 74 pitches through five innings Sunday.
Brogdon Rebounds
Phillies reliever Connor Brodgon threw a scoreless eighth inning, needing just 10 pitches to do it.
He recorded a pair of groundouts before ending the frame with a strikeout. It was an encouraging performance for an important bullpen piece. Brogdon had struggled in each of his previous three appearances dating back to last Sunday, including a rough Friday night outing in which he retired just one of four batters faced.
A Lehigh Valley Check-in
The Phillies optioned Darick Hall to Lehigh Valley last week, and it had been a struggle for him since the demotion.
In his first four games back with the IronPigs, Hall was 0-for-16 with nine strikeouts. He finally got things going on Sunday afternoon.
After drawing a second-inning walk, he came to the plate in the third and launched a two-run blast out to center.
Darick Hall just obliterated a baseball to dead center field for a 2-run home run for Lehigh Valley. It’s his 21st AAA homer this year pic.twitter.com/IeFoKfLz1X
— Mitch Rupert (@Mitch_Rupert) August 28, 2022
You figure that Hall will be back with the Phillies at some point, so it’s important that he regains his rhythm moving into September.
The post Observations After Phils Fail to Complete Sweep of Pirates appeared first on Crossing Broad.
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