The Phillies lost their third game in a row and sixth in their last seven games by a final score of 5-4 in Pittsburgh on a walk-off sacrifice fly. The game was tied 4-4 going into the ninth inning, but the Phillies couldn’t put the ball in play in their half and their closer Jordan Romano as well as their outfield defense let them down once again in the bottom half as two balls that appeared catchable dropped in front of Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh to set up the winning sac fly.
Back and forth
The two teams traded runs back and forth three times in this game. The Phillies opened the scoring in the first against old friend Bailey Falter with an RBI groundout from Nick Castellanos that scored Trea Turner. Turner had led off the game with a single before moving to second on a one out walk from Alec Bohm and then advancing to third on a double steal.
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The lead didn’t last long however, as Johan Rojas was unable to make a play on a hard-hit ball by Nick Gonzales into the alley in right center field. The ball just glanced off of Rojas’ glove and Gonzales pulled into third with a one out triple against Joe Ross who started a bullpen game for the Phillies. Gonzales then scored on a first pitch single from Bryan Reynolds.
The Phillies would respond in the third inning, as Turner doubled with one out and advanced to third on a Kyle Schwarber groundout. Bohm singled him in to give the Phillies another one run lead.
But once again, the lead was short lived as the Pirates answered right back in the bottom of the third. This time, Tanner Banks got the first two hitters on groundouts before surrendering a home run to Reynolds to once again tie the game up.
So, in the fourth inning, the Phillies decided they would need to increase the lead by more than one run. This time, Turner collected his third hit of the night with a two-out, bases loaded single up the middle that scored J.T. Realmuto and Edmundo Sosa. He bailed out Weston Wilson and Johan Rojas who both failed to drive a run in despite coming up with the bases loaded with no outs and one out respectively.
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But wouldn’t you know it, that still wasn’t enough to prevent the Pirates from immediately tying the game in the bottom half of the inning. Alan Rangel, newly called up from Triple-A, made his Major League debut for the Phillies on the mound and promptly walked the first batter on four pitches before surrendering a two-run homer to Henry Davis who entered at catcher for Endy Rodriguez who left with elbow discomfort.
All too familiar
But that was all the offense this one had to offer until the ninth inning. Matt Strahm had struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Phillies offense a great opportunity to take the lead against the leaky Pirates bullpen. But they decided to have their turn at playing copycat, as Marsh, pinch hitter Kepler, and Turner all struck out against David Bednar to keep the score tied at 4-4 going into the bottom of the ninth.
That’s when Romano entered the game trying to force extra innings. But he allowed a bloop single that fell in front of Kepler in left to put the winning run on first. Then Marsh froze and went back a step before charging in on a ball that fell in front of him that put two on with no outs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, two pitches after almost being hit in the face on a bunt attempt, dropped down a bunt that seemed to defy logic and laugh at the laws of physics as it stayed directly on the third base line for a fair ball.
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That loaded the bases with no outs. Romano was able to get Oneill Cruz to strikeout swinging to give some hope to the idea he could wiggle out of the jam his defense helped him get into. But alas, Nick Gonzales hit a deep fly ball to left that drove in Adam Frazier on a sac fly to sink the Phillies chances.
Tomorrow’s matchup
Ranger Suárez (4-0, 2.72) will look to try and get the Phillies back on track against Andrew Heaney (3-4, 3.39) for the Pirates. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 pm.
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