Seranthony Domínguez blows save, Phillies blunder on the bases in sweep-spoiling 6-4 loss to Reds

The Phillies bounced back at home against the Reds, but Cincinnati also found its way to a comeback win.

Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh gets tagged out at third after getting caught in a rundown.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer

Published April 9, 2023, 5:00 p.m. ET

Talk about a party pooper.

After receiving their 668-gemstone, 14-karat National League championship rings in a pregame ceremony punctuated with another emotional appearance by hobbled slugger Rhys Hoskins, the Phillies had a two-run lead and their best right-handed relievers lined up to get the last six outs on a sun-splashed Easter Sunday.

But Craig Kimbrel and Seranthony Domínguez botched all of that. Kimbrel gave up a run in the eighth, Domínguez allowed three in the ninth, and made the blinged-out Phillies lament three baserunning gaffes in a 6-4 loss to the Reds that wrecked a potential three-game sweep at Citizens Bank Park.

“I feel so bad right now because I’m supposed to help the team win,” Domínguez said after the Phillies slipped to 3-6, their worst nine-game start since 2017. “Today we didn’t win, and it was about me.”

When Domínguez struggles like this — consecutive walks on nine pitches, followed by an infield hit and a bases-clearing double by Jake Fraley — thoughts tend to turn to health. But the right-hander insisted he felt fine after pitching on back-to-back days for the first time this season.

Instead, Domínguez pinned his issues on command and location. The pitch to Fraley, for instance, was inside at the knees rather than up and on the hands.

“I’d probably try to go a little more up,” Domínguez said. “It wasn’t a bad pitch. It was a broken bat, and he got a [double].”

Hey, it happens. Sometimes to more than one late-inning reliever. Kimbrel inherited a 4-2 lead in the eighth inning and gave up a run on a walk and an RBI double by Jason Vosler.

Less excusable, however, were three miscues on the bases that ran the Phillies out of bigger rallies that would’ve afforded the bullpen more leeway.

In the first inning, Nick Castellanos doubled home Kyle Schwarber, took third on a throw that got past Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson, and got thrown out trying to score. In the eighth, Schwarber took a wide turn around first base on a single and got caught up in a rundown.

But the most egregious blunder belonged once again to Brandon Marsh.

After Alec Bohm’s two-run homer opened a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning, Marsh ripped a triple into the left-field corner past a diving Will Benson. Like last Monday night in New York, Marsh didn’t pick up a stop sign from third base coach Dusty Wathan. He rounded the base, put on the brakes as the throw came into the plate, then got cut down trying to dive back to third.

Another party pooper.

“They’ve got to run with their head up,” Thomson said. “At third base, I always tell baserunners, you get into that 15-, 10-foot area before you touch the base, you pick up the coach, then you watch yourself touch the base and pick up the coach again in case he changes he mind.”

And like last week in New York, Thomson thought Wathan put up the stop sign in time for Marsh to hold up. If only he had seen it.

“We’ve just got to clean it up,” Thomson said.

Walk in the park

In signing Taijuan Walker to the fourth-largest contract for pitchers in last winter’s free-agent market, the Phillies cited scouting and data that indicated he could pitch deeper into games than in past years.

Through two starts, it hasn’t happened.

Walker issued five walks, his highest total in a game in nearly two years, and was unable to complete the fifth inning for the second outing in a row. Whereas a 33-pitch first inning helped shorten his Phillies debut last week in New York, a long fourth (33 pitches) proved to be his undoing against the Reds.

“I thought it was pretty good the first three innings, and then, just the walks,” said Walker, who allowed two walks and two hits in the Reds’ two-run fourth. “They had a lot of foul balls, a lot of deep counts. They worked me pretty well. I threw some good splitters that they kept fouling off. Just really couldn’t get it done today.”

The Phillies walked nine batters overall, marking the second time in nine games that they’ve issued nine walks.

Alvarado is aces

In contrast to Kimbrel and Domínguez, José Alvarado continued his otherworldly start to the season.

Alvarado struck out the side on 19 pitches in the seventh inning, including Reds leadoff man Jonathan India, extending his strikeout streak to 10 consecutive batters. The big lefty has fanned 11 of the 13 batters he has faced.

“He’s unbelievable,” Thomson said. “Alvarado’s just on a historic run right now.”

That isn’t hyperbole, either. Alvarado is the sixth reliever since 1969 to strike out the side in three consecutive outings, joining Josh Hader, Andrew Miller, Raisel Iglesias, Nick Anderson, and Armando Benitez (twice). He’s also the third reliever since 1961 to strike out 10 consecutive batters within one season, with Chad Green and Eric Gagne.