Phillies falter again in ninth and lose to Mariners
Maikel Franco had a dreadful game, striking out three times and committing a costly error.
It began with the shortest start of Jerad Eickhoff's career, two blown four-run leads by the Phillies and, after hundreds of pitches deep into the night, it ended with a ninth-inning implosion witnessed in many Phillies games five weeks into this season.
But the immediate aftermath in 10-9 loss to Seattle was the current disarray of Maikel Franco. He struck out three times in five at-bats. He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a tie game and could not hit a fly ball deep enough to score a run. He committed an error on a routine grounder that begat two unearned runs.
It was enough for Phillies manager Pete Mackanin to contemplate benching Franco on Wednesday.
"I think he's a little down right now," Mackanin said. "He knows he's not playing at his best. I'll probably give him a day off tomorrow to think about it and regroup. He looks a little confused at this point in time. We have to get him back on track."
Franco was frustrated by his performance.
"I will just try to forget today," he said, "and be ready for tomorrow."
He hit into bad luck to begin the season, discovered good results for two weeks, and now is stuck in an 0-for-14 slump.
Franco's batting average is down to .208. His OPS is a mediocre .639.
The game was lost in countless ways before Hector Neris threw a splitter that caught too much of the plate and landed as a run-scoring double for Taylor Motter. But the ninth-inning malaise is difficult to ignore. The run was the 18th allowed by Phillies pitchers in the ninth inning. They have a 6.94 ERA in the ninth, their worst inning this season.
And it was difficult to overlook the uncharacteristic lack of poise from Eickhoff, who pitched just 32/3 innings and never appeared in command.
"That was a tough one to lose," Mackanin said.
The day started with a greeting line for Carlos Ruiz, who came to South Philadelphia as a visitor for the first time in his career. The fans who lingered Tuesday night were treated to a pinch-hit appearance by Ruiz in the eighth inning.
Phil Collins blasted through the Citizens Bank Park speakers as Ruiz walked to the plate. A smattering of cheers and "Chooooch" filled the air. The Phillies displayed a head shot of a 21-year-old Ruiz, from his Gulf Coast League days, on the scoreboard.
An emotional Ruiz tipped his helmet to the crowd. Then he worked a 3-1 count in a tense moment of a tie game. He flied out to center. The Panamanian catcher earned a standing ovation for that. There will be more chances to honor him Wednesday; Ruiz will start the afternoon game.
But the loudest cheers were for Aaron Altherr, who crushed another three-run homer to push the Phillies to a 9-5 lead in the fourth inning. It was not enough.
Eickhoff was not sharp. He could not throw his trusted curveball for strikes. Seattle hitters swung and missed just once at an Eickhoff curveball. They pulverized his fastball. He walked more batters than he struck out for just the second time in his career; the last time he did it was September 2015, in his fourth career start.
"I was having trouble repeating my delivery, which is unusual," Eickhoff said. "I was fighting myself and not able to execute pitches when I needed to."
The 26-year-old righthander said he huddled with assistant pitching coach Rick Kranitz after exiting the game and discovered a mechanical flaw. "It's a very easy fix," Eickhoff said. He had completed at least four innings in every one of his 47 starts before Tuesday. His next outing will come in Texas, against the franchise that drafted him, and it will be a meaningful test.
"I've never seen him where he didn't really have a good idea with most of his pitches," Mackanin said. "We haven't seen him like that. But he's allowed to have a bad game once in a while."
Eickhoff, in his first four starts this season, allowed seven earned runs. He had a 2.55 ERA. But his last three starts have yielded 14 runs in 15 innings, an 8.40 ERA.
Franco had a chance to render everything else meaningless. He was the one at the plate in the eighth with the bases loaded. He skied a ball to shallow right field. Mariners outfielder Ben Gamel snared it and fired a strike home that beat Daniel Nava to the plate. Franco had failed, and the Phillies were vulnerable despite having scored nine runs.
@MattGelb
