Phillies’ bullpen lets another game slip away in 10-2 loss to Tigers in series opener
Interim manager Don Mattingly opted to pull Aaron Nola after five innings, and it backfired. Tim Mayza became the latest left-handed reliever to struggle, allowing five runs in the sixth inning.
DETROIT — Even though Aaron Nola was having one of his strongest starts of the season so far, interim manager Don Mattingly tried to play it safe.
Rather than push Nola a third time through the Tigers order on Friday night, Mattingly lifted Nola after five innings, with his pitch count only at 84. Nola had been pitching through adverse mound conditions after the skies briefly opened up earlier in the game. But his pitches looked sharp, and he held Detroit to just three hits in what was at the time a 2-2 ballgame.
The move immediately backfired. Tim Mayza became the latest left-handed reliever to struggle for the Phillies, unraveling for five runs in the sixth inning as the Tigers pulled ahead to beat the Phillies, 10-2.
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Riley Greene started it with a 10-pitch walk. Another walk and a single broke the stalemate before Mayza committed a throwing error while fielding a sacrifice bunt that allowed another. Things continued to unravel after James Outman sent a bases-clearing triple to deep center field. He then scored when Mayza committed a balk.
The trouble didn’t end there for the Phillies bullpen. Max Lazar, who pitched the seventh, gave up a homer on the first pitch he threw to Colt Keith. That was followed by a two-run shot from Spencer Torkelson, which gave the Tigers an eight-run cushion.
It was a big enough lead to allow the Phillies to use a position player in the eighth, and Garrett Stubbs made his second pitching appearance of the road trip.
Derek Hill accounted for the Phillies’ only two hits against Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, as well as their only runs of the game. The outfielder, who drew into the lineup about 30 minutes before first pitch with Justin Crawford scratched with left knee soreness, hit a solo shot in the third inning, and hit an RBI single in the fourth that scored Bryce Harper, who drew a walk. Hill hit another single in the seventh for a three-hit night.
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Brandon Marsh singled in the eighth to bring the Phillies’ total to four hits on the night.
Delco’s Kevin McGonigle hit a two-run homer off Nola in the third inning, the eighth of the Bonner-Prendie grad’s rookie season so far. McGonigle is set to make his first career appearance at Citizens Bank Park next week as one of the Tigers’ All-Star representatives.
Ryan Howard was a three-time All-Star and champion of the 2006 Home Run Derby in his legendary run with the Phillies. With the baseball world coming together in Philadelphia for the 96th All-Star Game, Howard sat down with Phillies Extra to discuss his All-Star memories, his expectations for a Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park, his outlook on the Phillies' season, Kyle Schwarber's chances of breaking his single-season franchise mark for homers, and more. Watch here.
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