After two comebacks, Phillies can’t rally a third time against the Cardinals

This was a winnable game for the Phillies. Entering the bottom of the ninth inning, they were down by only one run. They’d shown considerable resolve up until that point; after digging themselves into a five-run deficit in the top of the first, the Phillies dug themselves out with the help of some of their young sluggers. After Corey Knebel walked in a run in the top of the fifth to give the Cardinals a 6-5 lead, Nick Castellanos tied it up again with an RBI single.

The bullpen did its job, allowing one earned run, three walks, and two hits over five innings of relief. That lone run, though, was the go-ahead homer allowed by Seranthony Domínguez off the bat of Nolan Arenado in the ninth inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, while down, 7-6, with two outs, Matt Vierling walked to get on base. Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley, as talented as he is, was at 33 pitches and showing signs of fatigue. And then Odúbel Herrera stepped up to the plate.

Herrera saw four pitches. All of four them were out of the zone, and the three he swung at were in the dirt. Rather than walking to put runners on first and second, he struck out to end the game.

It was a frustrating way for the Phillies to lose. Herrera said afterwards that the at-bat was a learning expeirence for him; that sometimes he tries to do too much when the game is on the line.

“I was trying to be a hero at the plate,” he said in Spanish. “In a moment like that, you treat it like any other at-bat. Put the ball in play. I don’t have to be a hero.”

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After Arenado hit for the cycle against the Phillies on Friday night, the Cardinals made history again against the Phillies on Saturday afternoon. In the top of the first inning, they hit four straight home runs off of right-handed starter Kyle Gibson, becoming the 11th team in MLB history to do so and the first to accomplish the feat in the first inning. It also was the first time in club history the Cardinals had hit four home runs in a row. Arenado, Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez, and Dylan Carlson went yard in the first for the Cardinals.

Gibson gave up five earned runs that inning but was not taken out of the game. In fact, he outlasted Cardinals’ started Matthew Liberatore, who exited in the bottom of the third inning. Over his next three innings, Gibson allowed three runners to reach base, via one hit, one walk, and a hit by pitch. In the top of the fifth inning, he was pulled for Knebel after he loaded the bases with no outs. He allowed seven hits, six earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts over four innings.

“I was awfully proud of him, to tell you the truth,” interim manager Rob Thomson said of Gibson. “I mean, he gives up four straight home runs. I think a lot of guys would have maybe shut it down right there. But he kept battling and kept coming out, and he was in trouble in the second and got out of it and gave us four innings and went into the fifth.”

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Gibson was coming off of another rough outing, in San Diego on June 26, in which he allowed five earned runs over 2⅔ innings. For most of this season, the Phillies have been able to turn to Gibson as someone who could give them five innings at a minimum. Not being able to do that will put pressure on their bullpen, which already has plenty of pressure on it, with Zach Eflin on the injured list and longman Bailey Falter starting in his place.

“I don’t know if it’s fatigue, but he’s not locating like he normally does,” Thomson said of Gibson’s last two outings. “I thought the first home run to Arenado was really a pretty good pitch and he just had a great swing on it. The other three I thought were just misfires. So I don’t know if it’s fatigue, or what, but he’s just not locating the way he normally does.”

Third baseman Alec Bohm quietly has been heating at the plate. He’s recorded at least one hit in his last seven games, and is batting .379/.379/.552 over that span. Over his last 15 games, he’s batting .302/.313/.397. He currently leads the Phillies in multi-hit games this season with 23.