PHILADELPHIA — Over their first two games, the Phillies introduced fans to their new-and-improved offense in spectacular fashion. Kyle Schwarber set the tone early with a leadoff home run in his first at-bat with the team on Friday, and his teammates carried that momentum on through Saturday, combining for a .964 OPS over their first two games with 18 hits, four of them home runs.
It was a different story in the Phillies’ 4-1 loss to Oakland on Sunday. Manager Joe Girardi opted to swap in some players who hadn’t gotten starts yet, like catcher Garrett Stubbs, and third baseman Johan Camargo, which took Didi Gregorius and J.T. Realmuto out of the lineup. A’s starter Daulton Jefferies and four Oakland relievers held the Phillies to only three hits and three walks. The Phillies were making hard contact — Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, and Matt Vierling all posted exit velocities of more than 100 mph throughout the game — but those baseballs didn’t fall until the end of the game, when second baseman Jean Segura launched a ninth-inning homer to right-center field. The Phillies weren’t working at-bats the way they had in the first two games.
Rather than the titanic home runs that fans have come to expect from a lineup that includes Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, two of the Phillies’ three hits on Sunday were a bunt and a single. The A’s had more luck against the Phillies bullpen, which gave up seven hits and all four runs in five innings.
