Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before: The Phillies faced a lefthanded starting pitcher and lost the game. On Sunday afternoon, the Phillies faced a solid lefty in the Guardians\u2019 Parker Messick and their season-long struggles against southpaws continued. They mustered just six hits and one run on the day, and as a result, lost the game by a score of 3-1.<\/p>\n
After getting gems from Cristopher Sanchez<\/a> and Zack Wheeler<\/a> in the first two games of the series, the Phillies were hoping for a solid performance from rookie starter Andrew Painter<\/a> on Sunday. And that\u2019s what they got, with Painter going 6.1 innings, and allowing two runs.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n He\u2019s still not striking out as many batters as you\u2019d hope, and he got some help from his defense with two double plays being turned as well as J.T Realmuto throwing out a would-be base stealer. Still, after his awful showing against the Athletics<\/a> earlier this month, he\u2019s been plenty respectable in the three starts since.<\/p>\n Painter walked just two batters, but unfortunately, both of them came around to score. In the fifth, after giving Daniel Schneemann<\/a> a one-out walk, consecutive hits by David Fry<\/a> and Steven Kwan<\/a> broke the scoreless tie.<\/p>\n The following inning, a two-out walk to Chase DeLauter<\/a> when Rhys Hoskins<\/a> followed with a double to make it 2-0. Here was one case when Painter\u2019s defense didn\u2019t help him, as Edmundo Sosa<\/a> took a long time to get the ball back in.<\/p>\n The Phillies didn\u2019t take advantage of the few scoring opportunities they had. Messick walked two batters in the third, but Alec Bohm<\/a> struck out to end the threat. In the sixth, a two out single by Bryson Stott<\/a> chased Messick, and then Adolis Garcia<\/a> walked against reliever Colin Holderman<\/a>. But a Justin Crawford groundout ensured the Phillies\u2019 run total remained at zero.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Their best chance to make a game of it came in the seventh when Brandon Marsh<\/a> led off with a triple and Trea Turner<\/a> followed with a walk. But after Kyle Schwarber<\/a> struck out, Bryce Harper<\/a> just missed a pitch, instead sending a long fly ball to center that stayed in the park. It was a sacrifice fly that represented the Phillies\u2019 only run of the game, but it was still a letdown, especially when Bohm weakly grounded out to end the inning.<\/p>\n