Phillies are batting .186 after second straight loss to the Rangers
The Phils walked eight times but managed only three hits. Starter Jesús Luzardo surrendered home runs to Brandon Nimmo and former Phillie Andrew McCutchen.
It took until the sixth inning for the Phillies to record their first hit against MacKenzie Gore and the Rangers on Sunday.
An infield single from Justin Crawford, which clocked an exit velocity just 48.4 mph off the bat, was the first of three total hits for the Phillies. They were doomed by an anemic offensive performance in an 8-3 loss to Texas and dropped the first series of the year.
Collectively, the Phillies drew eight walks against Rangers pitching, but a lack of power and timely hits restrained any big rallies. The offense has a .186 batting average through three games.
“We’ve got to get something going earlier in the games,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I think everybody in the lineup is trying to get off to a good start, maybe a little bit anxious, and they’ll settle in.”
Meanwhile, Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo surrendered two home runs. He had allowed just one left-on-left homer off his sweeper all of last year, but Brandon Nimmo crushed one in the third inning for a two-run shot. In the fourth inning, Luzardo left a fastball over the middle of the plate for Andrew McCutchen, who sent it 347 feet for a three-run homer.
Luzardo said outside of those two pitches, he felt as if his stuff was sharp. He struck out seven and generated 15 whiffs.
“There’s always positives to take away,” he said. “I think I got 31 starts left. We’ve got 159 games left. So it’s not the end of the world, but obviously some adjustments that need to be made. ... Just got to do a better job of keeping the ball in the yard.”
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Another run scored in the sixth inning. Otto Kemp misread a well-hit ball from McCutchen and had to chase it off the wall in left field as McCutchen sailed into second with a double. Adolis García then lost a pop-up from Kyle Higashioka in the sun and what would have been the third out dropped in, allowing McCutchen to score. It was ruled a single for Higashioka.
“Today was the first game in a while [Kemp has] been out in left field,” Thomson said. “So couple balls that he thought could catch and were hit up against the wall.”
The Phillies finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth. Crawford used his speed to break up Gore’s no-hitter with a leadoff infield single, and Trea Turner worked a walk.
Kyle Schwarber hit a bloop single that found some grass in center field, bringing up Bryce Harper with the bases loaded and no outs. He struck out on four pitches, but Gore then hit Alec Bohm with a fastball, forcing in the Phillies’ first run of the day.
García brought in another run with a sacrifice fly to left, but the rally ended when Bryson Stott grounded out to the pitcher.
“Personally, I mean, I thought [my at-bats] were OK, three games in,” said Harper, who finished 0-for-2 with two walks. “Obviously not the start we wanted to have, in a weekend, but we’ll get there.”
The Rangers tacked on to their lead with two runs against reliever Zach Pop in the seventh. He issued a walk, an Ezequiel Duran double on another misplayed ball in left field by Kemp, and hit a batter before recording an out.
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Brad Keller made his Phillies debut in the eighth and tossed a clean inning.
Harper and Bohm both walked in the eighth, and the Phillies’ third hit, a single from Stott, scored Harper from second.
Dylan Moore drew another walk in the ninth, and the game ended when Turner hit into his second double play of the game. Turner hit .133 in the spring and has started the regular season 2-for-13, but he said he was not concerned about his at-bats.
“Just missing the pitch I should end the at-bat on,” he said. “I’m hitting the ball decent the last few days. I’m swinging at the pitches I want to, for the most part, and then I feel like the two-strike hitting’s there. It’s just instead of fouling the ball off, just hit the mistake.”
Three games into the season, the Phillies aren’t hitting the panic button yet.
“I think everybody wants to get off to a good start, but sometimes it doesn’t happen,” Turner said. “And you can learn from each and every game. ... Just get it going a little bit earlier in the game. I feel like getting back into the rhythm of things, playing every day, it’ll come.”