ARLINGTON, Texas — In his first start of the season, it was not Aaron Nola, nor Zack Wheeler, who gave the Phillies the best chance to win a game against the Texas Rangers. It was Bailey Falter, a pitcher who was battling for a spot on the 26-man roster just a month ago.
It was not Nola, nor Wheeler, but Falter who gave the Phillies the length they badly needed on Sunday night, after their two workhorses were unable to pitch deep in games one and two. The left-handed pitcher threw 5 and 1/3 innings on Sunday. They weren’t perfect innings. Falter allowed some hard contact. He gave up seven hits and two earned runs — one of them a home run, to Rangers their baseman Josh Jung. But even then, Falter bounced back.
After Jung’s home run in the bottom of the second inning, Falter retired his next three batters, on a groundout, a flyout and a groundout. After allowing a single to start the third inning, he retired his next three batters, again: flyout, lineout, groundout. He retired all three in the fourth inning, allowed two hits in the fifth inning, one of them an RBI single, and departed in the sixth inning, after allowing a single to Corey Seager, and inducing a groundout to move him to second base.
