Phillies’ hot bats get put on ice in shutout loss to the Cleveland Guardians
The Phillies were held to six hits — none for extra bases or with a runner in scoring position — and Aaron Nola gave up two home runs in the series-opening loss.
CLEVELAND — Bryce Harper stood at home plate and Trea Turner at second base, helmets in their hands, hangdog looks on their faces, on opposite ends of a 127-foot double play.
It was the fifth inning here Friday night, and the Phillies thought they could make something happen. Why not? They’ve used their speed a lot lately to force the action. Trailing by one run, this felt like a good time.
But Harper didn’t swing at a curveball that appeared to clip the outside corner for a called third strike, leaving Guardians catcher Bo Naylor a clear view of Turner racing for second base. Naylor came up throwing. Turner got tagged on the arm.
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Hey, it happens. And when a team scores seven runs or more in eight of 11 games, including three in a row this week in Tampa, it’s due for a clunker.
In that case, clunk. Because the Phillies were held to six hits — none for extra bases or with a runner in scoring position — and Aaron Nola gave up two home runs in a series-opening 6-0 dud on a cool night in Cleveland.
“We had our chances but just didn’t get the job done,” Turner said. “This game felt like earlier in the year, when we kind of got beat by the homer and we didn’t get the homer. Get ‘em tomorrow.”
The Phillies stormed into town in the wee hours Friday morning on a scoring binge. In their last five games, they put up seven, seven, eight, nine, and seven runs, only the fifth time since ... get this ... World War II that they scored seven or more runs in five consecutive games.
And when Bryson Stott drew a leadoff walk and Turner reached on an infield single to open the game against Guardians starter Gavin Williams, well, here they go again.
But Williams got Harper to ground out, then struck out Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. The Phillies had him on the ropes again in the fourth inning, with the bases loaded and one out. Again, they let him off the hook.
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Then came the Harper-Turner double play in the fifth.
“We put [Turner] in motion just to stay out of a [ground ball] double play,” Thomson said. “I thought maybe the pitch was a little bit up, but I mean, probably too close to take.”
Meanwhile, Kyle Manzardo and Angel Martínez took Nola deep in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, and that was all it took. Three Guardians relievers would pass the baton for four innings to complete the fourth shutout of the Phillies in 26 games.
Nola entered the game on a mini-roll. After going 0-5 with a 6.43 ERA in five starts, he allowed only one run in his last 17 innings.
The game was scoreless with two out in the fourth inning when Nola tried to locate a fastball away to Manzardo. It wasn’t far enough outside, and Manzardo crushed it to straightaway center field for a solo homer.
Nola gave up his eighth homer of the season in the fifth on a low changeup to Martínez that wasn’t low enough. Even so, the ball barely cleared the top of the wall in right field.
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“I was trying to go down and away right there,” Nola said. “I think it was middle. I have to go back and look. I mean, I don’t want to walk him there. Just trying to make a competitive changeup right there. He put a pretty good swing on it.”
But what gnawed at Nola most was what occurred before and after Martínez’s homer.
Nola began the fifth inning by issuing a seven-pitch walk to Gabriel Arias, which turned the homer into a two-run shot. Then, after back-to-back singles by Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann, Nola was late to cover first base on José Ramírez’s one-out chopper to diving Harper at first base.
“I knew [Ramirez] is fast,” Nola said, “and I just got a late jump on it.”
The Guardians wound up scoring three runs in the fifth inning, then adding two more in the seventh against reliever Joe Ross. And the Phillies lost for only the second time in seven games and the third time in 12 games.
It happens.
“We got out of the [strike] zone a little bit with runners in scoring position, but we did have some opportunities,” Thomson said. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t shove a couple runs across there.”
On this episode of “Phillies Extra,” Nola joins The Inquirer’s Scott Lauber for a rare sit-down to share the secrets behind his unmatched durability, his evolution as the steady force between Cole Hamels and Andrew Painter, and what keeps him going. Get an inside look at a Phillies legend in the making. Listen now.