Phillies mistakes pile up in loss; Luis Arraez hits for the cycle to make Marlins history
Aaron Nola gave up nine hits and four runs in 5⅔ innings, but his pitching line doesn't tell the full story.
Twenty-four hours after the Phillies scored 15 runs and banged out 20 hits, with nine of those runs and 10 of those hits coming against reigning Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara, fans threw dollar hot dogs onto the field.
This is a city that will hold players accountable, and the Phillies failed to capitalize on the momentum they built on Monday with an 8-4 loss on Tuesday. So, on “Dollar Dog Night,” hot dogs wrapped in aluminum foil showered down from the upper decks, some of them landing on the right-field grass.
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The Phillies weren’t playing clean, crisp baseball. Their pitching corps allowed five two-out RBIs against Miami. Third baseman Edmundo Sosa committed an error in the top of the third inning. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Bryson Stott hit a bases-loaded single off Jesús Luzardo to score two runs, but took too wide of a turn at first base. Jean Segura cut off the throw to the plate and threw to first, nailing Stott, who overran the bag. Stott sat along the first-base line for a few seconds afterward. He described it as a “deflating” moment that shifted the momentum of the game.
“I saw the left fielder come up throwing and I saw the shortstop running to third so I knew he missed that cutoff,” Stott said. “It was just a good play by Jean. To come through and throw back across. I mean, that’s what we do. It wasn’t a very good play by myself.”
The bullpen wasn’t as solid as it had been in previous games. Left-hander Gregory Soto finished the sixth inning without allowing a run, but Connor Brogdon allowed a home run to Luis Arraez in the seventh inning. Andrew Bellatti, who had yet to allow an earned run this season, allowed three of them in the eighth inning — which is when the hot dogs began to fall. He allowed a single to Arraez, who hit for the cycle. It was the first cycle in Marlins history. Arraez, last year’s American League batting champ, is slashing .537/.596/.732 this season.
Bellatti had pitched in six games prior to Tuesday night. Brogdon had pitched in five. Manager Rob Thomson said that could have contributed to their performances on Tuesday.
“We work those guys pretty good,” Thomson said. “We’ve got to get some length [from the starters] at some point to settle the bullpen down a little bit. And we will.”
In the big leagues, there is never much room for error, but there was even less room on Tuesday. Luzardo shut the Phillies out for five innings. Phillies starter Aaron Nola saw his velocity creep up, compared to his previous start in New York, but allowed some hard contact. In all, Nola gave up nine hits and four runs in 5⅔ innings with six strikeouts and gave up one homer.
Nola’s line doesn’t exactly tell the whole story. He gave the Phillies five good innings, but was unable to finish the sixth inning, mainly because of a missed call by home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson. The Marlins broke things open in the top of the sixth when Jorge Soler doubled in a run Yuli Gurriel singled in another.
By the time Segura stepped to the plate, Miami was up, 3-0. He worked Nola to a 2-2 count, with two outs, and took a sinker that landed just inside the strike zone. Tomlinson called it a ball, and Segura singled two pitches later.
“It was frustrating,” Nola said of the sixth inning. “I didn’t make the pitches I needed to with two strikes. I felt like I was one pitch away. I kept missing a little bit. They kept getting some hits and it spiraled.”
Nick Fortes followed Segura and singled to score Gurriel. All of a sudden, it was 4-0. Nola departed after that.
The Phillies tried to rally in the bottom of the eighth, and again in the bottom of the ninth. J.T. Realmuto hit a two-out RBI double to left field to score Brandon Marsh to tack on a run in the ninth. But it was to no avail. Nick Castellanos struck out to end the game.
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