Ever have one of those nights? The kind where you trip over the dog and spill the milk and the doorbell rings just as you’re settling in to watch your favorite television show, which turns out to be just a re-run anyway?
Yeah, that’s the kind of evening it was for the Phillies Friday at Citizens Bank Park.
On Trea Turner Bobblehead Night, they repeatedly bobbled the baseball in a series of charged errors, mental lapses and unforced misplays.
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On the annual Christmas in July theme night they were in the holiday spirit, giving away at least four extra outs against the Guardians. Twice starter Cristopher Sánchez picked runners off but didn’t get an out, once because of his own poor throw. Both those runners scored and the second misfire in the fourth extended the inning long enough for Cleveland to tack on an insurance run to down the suddenly floundering Phillies, 3-1 to the discontent of a sellout crowd of 44,448.
They’ve now lost seven of their last 10 games and are 12-13 since June 24.
“We’ve got to clean it up,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I’m not sure what it was. Our pregame work was crisp. Guys had a lot of energy coming off the off day. But we have to throw the ball accurately. We have to cover all our assignments. We made a couple mental errors and a couple physical errors.”
It didn’t take long for what became a pattern to emerge. Cleveland’s second batter, right fielder Angel Martinez, reached on a infield hit. When he tried to steal second, Sánchez threw behind him, trapping the runner between first and second. But when first baseman Bryce Harper threw back to second, Bryson Stott was in front of the base and shortstop Trea Turner was behind it, allowing the runner to reach with what was scored a stolen base.
Philadelphia Phillies
Thomson said that Harper probably should have thrown to Stott earlier, but that held onto the ball when Martinez stopped then broke again for second. At that point, Turner should have been at the base, but wasn’t.
Errors by Turner in the second and Sánchez in the third didn’t come back to bite the Phillies but another mistake that again technically wasn’t an error did in the fourth.
After second baseman Andres Gimenez led off by bunting for a hit, he broke for second while Sánchez was still set. The lefthander appeared to have the runner cold, but his throw to second was off line. Credited with a stolen base, Gimenez went to third on a single by shortstop Bryan Rocchio and scored on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Bo Naylor.
Rocchio came around on a two-out base hit by right fielder Angel Martinez.
That was all the runs the Guardians scored. Turned out, it was all they needed. The Phillies went hitless in six at bats with runners in scoring position. Their only run came on a Stott homer in the fifth.
The Phillies have scored two or fewer runs in five of their last 10 games. As a side note, they were largely shut down Friday by righthander Blake Lively who spent four years in the Phillies' organization, including going 4-9 with a 4.81 earned run average in parts of the 2017 and 2018 seasons before being claimed on waivers by the Royals.
Now 32, Lively is having the best season of his career after signing with Cleveland as a free agent last winter. In his first start ever against the Phillies he gave up one run on three hits in six innings while walking two and striking out six. For the season, he’s 9-6, 3.44 with six quality starts.
Lively also got the benefit of at least three questionable calls from home plate umpire Rob Drake. In fact, in the bottom of the third, hitting coach Kevin Long was ejected by Drake after Turner was called out on a pitch that, on replay, appeared to be clearly outside.
Long’s distemper was stoked by the fact that Drake also rang up Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott in the second on pitches that also appeared to be well outside the zone. Being unsure of where the strike zone is can put extra pressure on hitters.
“I think it’s tough on guys.” Thomson said. “But they have to try to make the best adjustment they possibly can. They can’t let that bother them. You can’t control those things. You’ve got to clear your mind, go out and play defense, come back in for your next at bat. That’s difficult. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out where the strike zone is. But you’ve got to overcome things you can’t control.”
There’s no shame in losing to the Orioles who, after all, have the best record outside of the Delaware Valley. Still, the Phillies beat themselves as much as they got beat and that’s happened a little too often for comfort lately.
“I think it’s just the ebbs and flows of the season,” Thomson said.
Logic suggests he’s probably right but, in the end, only time will tell.
UP NEXT: Former Phillies prospect RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-8, 5.32), who was traded to Cleveland as part of the deal that fetched Cliff Lee at the 2009 deadline, will start against RHP Tyler Phillips (2-0, 2.81) Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Lee helped the Phils make it to the World Series that year and Carrasco has since won 113 big league games for the Guardians.
It will be RHP Xzavion Curry (0-2, 4.98) vs. LHP Ranger Suárez (10-5, 2.87) in Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. series finale.