PHILADELPHIA —There were times, last season when it felt like the crowd was willing the Phillies to win.
Saturday, in an eventual 3-2 victory against the Reds, felt like one of those times.
The Phillies looked lifeless for eight innings — and then came the ninth.
Nick Castellanos led the inning off with a seven-pitch walk. Alec Bohm came up to the plate next, and reliever Alexis Diaz promptly threw a wild pitch. Bohm’s arm shot up and Castellanos took off for second base. He was safe.
Bohm singled to move Castellanos to third. Brandon Marsh pinch-hit for Josh Harrison in the next at-bat. He singled to score Castellanos. Edmundo Sosa hit a sacrifice fly to score Bohm and tie the game at 2-2, and Bryson Stott worked a seven-pitch at-bat, one that saw Marsh steal second base, and culminated in a ground-ball single to right field to score Marsh. The Phillies had three hits and no runs through their first eight innings and knocked in three and three runs in the ninth. They are 3-5.
Lodolo, a formidable opponent
Reds starter Nick Lodolo was a hard one to hit on Saturday. He struck out a career-high 12 batters. Five Phillies struck out twice and in all, managed just three hits and two walks off of him.
Ironically, it was Cristian Pache, who entered the game hitless and with a career .155 batting average, who knocked in one of those three hits. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Pache hit a sharp line drive to left field. It was the second hardest hit of the day, coming off his bat at 108.2 mph. Unfortunately for the Phillies, it came after a double play, and Kyle Schwarber struck out to end the inning.
That was a promising sign for Pache, but it didn’t absolve him of a costly baserunning error he made earlier in the game. In the bottom of the third inning, with Stott on first base and one out, Pache hit a sacrifice bunt to move Stott to second. He reached first on a throwing error by Lodolo.
After a Trea Turner strikeout, a passed ball moved Stott to third and Pache to second. In the next at-bat, Schwarber hit a grounder to third base, and Pache took off for third, reaching base just before Stott did. Pache was initially called safe, but upon review, was called out. If he had waited at second, and allowed Stott to score first, the run would have counted, and the game would have been tied at 1-1. Instead, it remained 1-0.
It was that kind of day for the Phillies. They had just three opportunities with runners in scoring position and didn’t capitalize on any of them. The closest they got was in the bottom of the seventh inning. Edmundo Sosa reached base on a single, and with one out, Stott hit a liner that looked like it would sail over left fielder Jake Fraley’s head. But instead, Fraley nabbed it, and Pache struck out to end the inning.
Things didn’t fare much better for the Phillies after Lodolo exited the game. Reliever Alexis Diaz struck out the top of the Phillies lineup. As a team, the Phillies finished their day with 15 strikeouts.
A good day for Phillies pitching
The Reds’ lineup isn’t formidable, per se, but the Phillies pitching staff did a good job of keeping this game within reach. Starter Bailey Falter gave his team five innings of four hit ball allowing one solo home run to account for his one earned run. The next three relievers — Andrew Bellatti, Connor Brogdon and Seranthony Dominguez allowed no earned runs over three innings pitched. Andrew Vasquez allowed an earned run and a walk in the top of the ninth.
Nick Castellanos stays disciplined
Castellanos had his second multi-walk game of the season thus far. He walked twice on Saturday, once against Lodolo, and once against Diaz. He has six walks through eight games in 2023.
