The Philadelphia Phillies lost their third straight game on Friday afternoon, falling to the Nationals 7-6. Their record drops to 1-3.
On The Mound
- Vince Velasquez got the start, and lasted just four innings, allowing four runs on five hits.
- Velasquez was tagged for two-run homers in the first and third innings. The first shot came off of the bat of Bryce Harper, who has made a career of killing the Phillies.
- Velasquez struck out 10, but also threw 94 pitches, leading to his early exit.
- Joely Rodriguez took over in the fifth, and gave up a three-run shot to Jayson Werth. Rodriguez pitched two innings, working his way out of trouble in the sixth.
- Joaquin Benoit pitched a scoreless seventh.
- Hector Neris turned a double-play and struck out a batter in the eighth.
- Jeanmar Gomez worked a clean ninth.
At The Plate
- The offense generated six runs on nine hits.
- The team was held scoreless until the sixth inning, when a single from Odubel Herrera scored Cesar Hernandez.
- Hernandez went 1-4 at the top of the order again, and also worked a walk in the ninth inning.
- Howie Kendrick went 2-5 with a double.
- Another terrible game for Maikel Franco, who went 0-4 with five men left on base.
- Franco had an opportunity to get the team on the board in the fourth inning, with runners at the corners and one out, but went down looking.
- Franco had a chance to redeem himself in the eighth. With the team down 7-4, Franco had a chance with two men on and none out, but popped up despite getting ahead of Koda Glover 3-1.
- Michael Saunders also had a shot against Scherzer with runners at the corners, but grounded out.
- Tommy Joseph continues to just flat out suck. Joseph went 0-3 with a walk, and popped up in the eighth inning with two men on.
- Freddy Galvis went 2-3 with a double and a home run. Galvis drove in three runs, and his two-run shot came in the ninth inning to cut the Nats’ lead to one.
- Aaron Altherr supplied a two-run homer in the seventh inning that made it a 7-4 game, and gave the team some hope.
Final Thoughts
It was an ugly start to the Phils’ home opener. Down 7-0 with Max Scherzer, Bryce Harper, and Jayson Werth dominating the early innings and running the Phils off of their home field, it was encouraging to see the team rally back in the later innings.
However, the team let yet another winnable game turn to a lose.
Some of this can simply be attributed to a young team that just doesn’t know how to win. Some can be blamed on key players not producing.
Maikel Franco and Tommy Joseph have been killing the team through the first four games. Franco had multiple chances to come through today and came up pitifully small. Joseph is still searching for his first hit of the season, and looks completely lost at the plate.
