Phillies Game 9 Recap: Phils Drop Third Straight with loss to Mets

After being beatdown 14-4 Tuesday against the Mets, the Phils were looking to bounce back on Wednesday night. Vince Velasquez was on the bump for his second start of the season and would be backed by the following lineup:

Phillies lineup tonight vs. Mets pic.twitter.com/vHtPlydqAI

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) April 12, 2017

The game didn’t start out well for the Phils. Velasquez had another outing where the strikeout pitch was effective, but struggled to limit runs and keep his pitch count low. The hard-throwing righty recorded seven strikeouts in just five innings- the drawback being the five runs allowed. His sporadic performance put the Phillies down 5-0 heading into the sixth inning, and it seemed like the team was on their way to getting shut out.

And then, Maikel Franco happened.

Brock Stassi and Freddy Galvis started the rally with one-out singles in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a Odubel Herrera walk to load the bases, Maikel Franco BOMBED a pitch 410 feet for the Phils’ first grand slam of the season. The homer promptly unloaded the bases and cut the deficit to just one point.

Unfortunately that was the last score of the game for both sides, and the Phils lose the series to the Mets and drop their third consecutive game. Thankfully the team has a day off before their series in Washington, as they look to sort things out and get back on track.