PHILADELPHIA — The Giants failed to sweep the scuffling Philadelphia Phillies, and their loss in the series finale Wednesday night was a lesson in domino effects.
Manager Gabe Kapler turned the game over to his bullpen after the fifth inning, and Jarlín García proceeded to immediately blow the lead, allowing his first earned runs all season, while Carlos Rodón watched from the bench despite having just completed his best inning of the night.
Pumping 98 mph, Rodón struck out the heart of the Phillies order — Rhys Hoskins, Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm — in the fifth but had run his pitch count up to 98 after defensive miscues extended the previous inning.
The Phillies managed just one run out of the mess in the fourth, but Rodón was forced to use 25 pitches, his most strenuous inning of the night despite allowing nothing but soft contact. Odubel Herrera, who eventually scored the one run of the frame, should have been thrown out twice: first, after being caught in between first and second by Rodón but advancing to third on an errant throw by Flores, then again between third and home with the infield in when a ball was hit to Jason Vosler at third but he didn’t execute the pickle play and allowed Herrera to scurry back safely.
It was a painful reminder that the matchup featured the two worst defensive teams in the majors, according to the defensive runs saved metric. It also gave Kapler a tough choice to make in the sixth.
Coming off shoulder fatigue to end last season, Rodón’s workload is being carefully monitored this season. The Giants had also used every reliever on their roster except Zack Littell and Sam Long (who was activated before Wednesday’s game) during their marathon 11-inning win Tuesday night after Kapler turned to the ‘pen in the fifth with starter Jakob Junis at only 64 pitches.
It’s possible there was no good decision to make.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi sent his starter, Aaron Nola, back out for the sixth (with a pitch count of only 59) and the Giants rallied for five runs to take a 5-2 lead. Thairo Estrada and Donovan Walton, the bottom two hitters in the Giants order, led off with back-to-back doubles, and Wilmer Flores capped the rally with a three-run blast to left.
But Rodón is also the only Giants starter to top 100 pitches this season — twice, topping out at 110 — and has developed a reputation for getting better as the game goes on, a quality on display again Wednesday night.
Within five batters of turning to Garcia, the lead was gone.
Herrera reached for the third time, beating out an infield single to Brandon Crawford and came home on a towering home run to right field by Nick Maton two batters later. After another infield single, by nine-hole hitter Bryson Stott, the Phillies took the lead for good when Kyle Schwarber turned on a 3-0 offering from Garcia.
The Giants haven’t swept a team since they took all three games from the Colorado Rockies in the the second week of May.
