PHILADELPHIA – After a rough ending to their road trip, the Phillies took full advantage of an off-day Monday to reset themselves.
After playing against some of baseball’s best, the Phillies welcomed the Miami Marlins to Citizens Bank Park. This Marlins team is quite different than the one the Phillies faced earlier in the season. Miami was a massive seller at this year’s trade deadline and shipped out a lot of their established talent. Their lineup might not contain many household names, but they do have young players who are fighting for their spot in the big leagues.
Miami wasn’t going to hand the Phillies anything on Tuesday night and the Phillies had to fight to end their three-game losing streak. They were unsuccessful in this venture, dropping their fourth straight ball game.
Return of Taijuan Walker
Taijuan Walker made his return to the Phillies pitching rotation on Tuesday night during his start against the Miami Marlins. Walker had not pitched for the Phillies since 6/21, in a start against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Tai had been placed on the injured list with right index finger inflammation. He pitched in two rehab starts for the Reading Fightin Phils as he went to gear up for his return. Prior to the game, Rob Thomson mentioned that Walker would be on a pitch count and that he would not be getting the full amount of throws he normally would. Taijaun is still building back up, and the Phillies can’t afford another injury to their starting rotation.
In the first inning, Taijaun did not have his best stuff. After getting the leadoff hitter to ground out to short, Walker would walk the next two hitters. They would both come home on RBI singles as the Marlins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. He struggled with his command, throwing 18 balls in 32 pitches.
In the top of the third inning, Jake Burger hit a solo home run, extending the Miami lead to 3-0. Burger has now homered in 4 straight games and has an extra-base hit in 6 consecutive ballgames.
Taijuan would finish his night with 4 innings pitched, 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 5 strikeouts, and 3 walks.
Offense goes sleeping with the fishes
Hitting the ball hard is typically a good thing when playing baseball. However, if you hit the ball right at the opposing team, it tends to work out in their favor.
The Phillies were hitting the ball hard off of Marlins’ starter Valente Bellozo early in the game. The team had four balls hit over 99 mph, but they resulted in just one hit after two innings. With an early lead for the Marlins, Valente seemed to settle in over the course of the first few frames.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Phillies finally had a spark. Alec Bohm worked a walk and Nick Castellanos hit a double. With runners at second and third, JT Realmuto stepped to the plate.
Realmuto would pop up in shallow right field, ending the inning without a run.
Bellozo would throw 7 scoreless innings in his first career outing against the Phillies. The club’s offense fed right into his specialty as a fly ball pitcher, with 14 outs coming via the air.
What do the Phillies try next?
In the top of the 7th inning, the Marlins would hustle their way to another run. Based on the energy of the players, you couldn’t tell the Phillies were the club with 69 wins on the season.
With a 4-0 deficit, the Phillies sent Bryson Stott to the plate to kick start the 7th inning. His third hard-hit fly out of the game would be the first round recorded in the frame. A one-pitch pop-up by Nick Castellanos quickly had the Phillies down 2-outs. JT Realmuto would rip a single to left, recording the team’s fourth hit of the night.
Brandon Marsh would try and keep the inning alive. Working a full count, Marsh would strike out for the second time in the game. He now has 115 strikeouts on the season, which is the second most on the team.
A quiet 8th inning and 9th inning would follow suit as the Phillies’ bats were lifeless in South Philly. They drop below 20 games over the .500 mark for the first time since May 18th. It wasn’t the reason for the loss, but the Phillies bullpen allowed two more runs in this game. It is five straight games that the bullpen has allowed at least one run in relief.
They are now 4-4 against the Miami Marlins on the season, with the conclusion of their two-game series set for Wednesday evening.
