Game #129: Phillies 18 vs. Diamondbacks 2

You may as well just skip down to the Up Next Poll.... This game started poorly and only got worse. The best pitching performance Arizona had was Carson Kelly’s 1.1 to close it out.

Innings 1-3

Tommy Henry didn’t have his stuff tonight. It was all bad for him in the first third of the game. A whole bunch of baserunners in the first, not helped by a double error on Perdomo, but he also got out of the inning with some nice defense behind him. The second inning went swimmingly (after a rather stern talking to from Stromm mind you). But the third was when the wheels really came off. There were walks, wild pitches, hard contact... A very nice double play (after Lovullo successfully challenged a safe call at first) finally ended the Sucking Baseball Wound.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks’ bats didn’t show up at all in these innings. Something called a Bailey Falter was perfect at the end of the third. There wasn’t even a great defensive play to put any hope into. All hope came from Monday night’s franchise record-setting rebound.

5-0 PHILLIES

Innings 4-6

Henry had a great fourth. No one reached base and despite a delay of game for a foul ball that caught Hummel in an extremely unfortunate location, the inning felt nice. But as Michael pointed out in the GameDay Thread, Henry was only effective in the even innings. Two batters into the fifth, no one was out, and Moronta relieved the rookie. He managed to get three outs, but it also wasn’t pretty. Almost like the Phillies didn’t want to get swept by an afterthought team or something. Ginkel pitched the sixth. He didn’t escape flawless, but he did strand two runners in scoring position and **only** gave up one run...

Falter didn’t exactly falter in the fourth, but he did give up a home run to McCarthy! It was a no doubt beauty. No one else could do any damage though. Until the fifth at least. Garrett got on base with an infield single (don’t be fooled, he isn’t supremely fast like some other outfielders on the team; Hoskins couldn’t corral the ball and Falter failed to expeditiously run to cover the bag). Didn’t matter though, no one else did anything. Marte had what I’m going to call a hamstring double to dead center in the sixth (I could be biased by all the speed of younger legs though). And he did advance to third on a fly out by McCarthy. But Rivera could convert with two outs.

10-1 PHILLIES

Innings 7-9

Mantiply came in for the seventh. Sosa immediately hit a double to left that Garrett didn’t really play super well, but no extras bases were had. Schwarber singled him home after the ump took a pitch off his forearm (the bruise formed FAST). No other damage done. Frias got .2 of the eighth. That’s all that needs to be said about it (5ER 7ER on 6 hits). Carson Kelly pitched. It wasn’t pretty, but he got the final out. He also pitched the ninth, allowing no runs; the CATCHER THROWING 50MPH allowed fewer runs than all the Arizona “pitchers” who played tonight.

Walker got a hit in the seventh. Garrett even followed it up with a hit of his own. Two runners at the same time! After Hummel grounded out to short, Falter was removed from the game for injury (right groin tightness); I hope he’s ok. Dude pitched a good game against a bad offense. Whichever reliever came in doused the threat. The bottom of the eighth was completely uneventful. Rivera singled in the ninth, followed by a Walker single as well. Garrett then grounded into a double play that scored Rivera. Hummel also singled. Varsho couldn’t keep the too little too late “rally” going. Game over.

18-2 PHILLIES WIN

Conclusion

OH. MAHY. GAWD! We had the chance to sweep. We. Did. Not. Sweep. Neither Arizona pitching, nor hitting showed up tonight. The highlights were McCarthy’s home run and sadly, Carson Kelly’s pitching... Of particular low notes: Henry’s inability to adjust in real time, the defense as a whole (shout out to Garrett’s attempts to learn Chase Field with minimal playing time, despite the poor look of the eyeball test), and the hocking of bats/balls signed by players we all suffered through for the first few innings (congrats to cancer research, but it was old after the top of the first).

Fangraphs

Caligula: Tommy Henry (-30.1% WPA)

Spartacus: Jake McCarthy (2.7% WPA)

Comment of the Day

I ignored rec’s tonight because none went red, and frankly it was just a lot of sarcasm and negativity (justified, but not my preference for CoTD tonight). So let’s all try out best to hold onto this nugget from Michael.

Up Next

Tomorrow the Milwaukee Brewers come to town for a 4-game set over the weekend. Game time is 6:40pm Arizona Time. Brandon Woodruff (9-3, 3.31 ERA) takes the mound for the Midwesterners. Arizona will send Merrill Kelly (11-5, 2.97 ERA) out there. Rosters also expand tomorrow, so expect a Kyle Nelson addition to the bullpen and some bat from AAA (Beer? Luplow? Herrera?). Who do you think it will be?