The Philadelphia Phillies (62-34) faced the Oakland Athletics (37-61) in their final game before the All-Star festivities. With a series victory up for grabs, the Phillies got shellacked by a final score of 18-3.
Entering the All-Star break as the only team with 60 wins, the first portion of the season couldn’t have reasonably gone much better for the Phillies. They have the biggest division lead in all of MLB (9.5 games up in the NL East entering Sunday), multiple players enjoying breakout years, and a non-disastrous bill of health.
They even have two starters in the MLB Futures Game and their Triple-A affiliate is in possession of the best run differential and second-best record among all teams at that level. Citizens Bank Park has been buzzing night after night with sellout crowds — and it will be for the rest of summer and into the fall.
For now, though, the Phillies are more than ready to take a break. They got thumped by the Athletics in their final pre-break outing, losing the series at home. It doesn’t damper what has been a special season but everyone will be eager to flush this series.
Johnny Wholestaff’s miserable day on the mound
Orion Kerkering made his first MLB start as the opener for the Phillies’ bullpen game. He allowed two line drives to start his day but both were caught thanks to the quick reflexes of Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh. The second one to Marsh, hit by Miguel Andujar, left the bat at 109.9 MPH and had an expected batting average of .880. Kerkering forced a groundout to end his 11-pitch day.
Michael Mercado took the ball to start the second inning. The Phillies needed multiple innings out of him, especially with Jose Alvarado and Jeff Hoffman out of commission after each throwing over 20 pitches in yesterday’s game. They got those multiple innings…but also a lot more along with them.
Garrett Stubbs helped Mercado out by catching Max Schuemann in an attempt to steal second base in the third inning. Marsh running down another line drive ended the inning. Still, Mercado touched 98.0 MPH with his four-seam fastball and looked to be mostly in control. The A’s didn’t get a runner into scoring position through his first pair of innings.
A pair of two-run homers in consecutive innings undid his promising performance. The second one came on a fastball that was over a tick lower than his season average. Mercado managed to pitch into the sixth inning but allowed yet another two-run homer before recording an out. Final line: 4.0 innings, six earned runs, five hits, three walks, two strikeouts.
Seranthony Dominguez and Jose Ruiz also had brutal days out of the ‘pen, surrendering four and three earned runs respectively. Those numbers of runs also represented how many outs they each made. Sandwiched in between them was Matt Strahm, who let a runner left behind by Dominguez score on a flyout and then recorded a strikeout.
Then, Stubbs got the call in the top of the 9th inning. The A’s managed to get a hold of the stuff from the lights-out fireballer, loading the bases right away, scoring a run, and then launching a grand slam. Stubbs eventually got the job done, limiting any further damage.
The Phillies may chalk this game up to the weirdness of a bullpen game and the final game before the break but it should still behoove them to add another reliable bullpen arm ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.
Digging the long ball
Trea Turner launched a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. He hit a low slider on the right side of the plate into the seats in left field for his eighth homer in 12 games. After Bryce Harper won the Player of the Month award in May and June, it could very well be Trea’s turn in July as he sports an OPS over 1.200.
Turner’s second plate appearance ended on one pitch when he got plunked in the shoulder. He made a lovely sliding defensive play to get an assist on an out at second base in the fifth inning and singled up the middle in the sixth. His individual performance was pretty good but it was outshined by a monsoon of runs from the A’s.
Brent Rooker hit a two-run home run over the batter’s eye. A potential trade option for the Phillies, he gave Oakland a 2-1 lead by scoring himself and JJ Bleday to add to his impressive series that already featured five hits and another homer by that point.
Then, Rooker delivered the homer that ended Mercado’s day. This one went a little bit to the left of the location of his first one. With the seventh instance of a player hitting two 450-foot home runs in the same game in the Statcast era, the 29-year-old slugger made quite an impression. He tied a career-high with five RBI in this win over the Phillies.
Rooker’s fit on the Phillies is flimsy given how infrequently he plays in the outfield. And because he has a few years of team control left, Oakland may have a pretty steep asking price. But he sure can hit. If he can continue being this good at Citizens Bank Park, his offense may be able to overcome his lacking defense.
Oh, and Rooker was far from the only Athletic doing damage in this one. The A’s hit eight homers in total, which they haven’t done in a single game since 1996. Lawrence Butler notched the first three-homer game of his career. Seth Bown hit a pair of homers, the fourth multi-homer game of his career. Zack Gelof hit the grand slam off of Stubbs. The Phils hadn’t allowed that many home runs in a game since 2019.
Alec Bohm didn’t hit a home run but he did tally four bases with a pair of doubles. He’ll have to start preparing to get more lift on the ball as the Home Run Derby approaches.
Next up for the Phillies
The Phillies will pick up play after the All-Star break in Pittsburgh on Friday, July 19. But there will be plenty of Phils in action in the coming days. After Bohm takes on the Home Run Derby on Monday, he will be one of the MLB-high eight players from the Phillies on the NL roster in the Mid-Summer Classic, though Ranger Suarez will not be playing in the game.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
