The cheerful energy that filled Citizens Bank Park for Chase Utley\u2019s Wall of Fame induction before Friday night\u2019s game disappeared in the bottom of the fifth inning.<\/p>\n
Down a run to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Phillies had runners on second and third with no outs and the top of the order due up.<\/p>\n
Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper all struck out.<\/p>\n
Boos cut through the humid air.<\/p>\n
The Phillies went on to lose, 5-4, in front of a sellout crowd of 43,641.<\/p>\n
Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth.<\/p>\n
The Phils entered the frame down, 5-2. They capitalized on a pair of walks by Toronto reliever Tyler Rogers, and a catcher’s interference call, to load the bases with no outs. They pushed across a run on a fielder\u2019s choice and another on an infield hit by Harper to make it a one-run game. Luis Arraez then worked Rogers for a 10-pitch walk to load the bases with one out. The big crowd hoped to see the rally continue, but it died quickly. Alec Bohm hit the first pitch he saw to second baseman Ernie Clement, who cut the run at the plate, before Brandon Marsh grounded out to end the game.<\/p>\n
Marsh fired his helmet in frustration after the last out. It was that kind of night for the Phillies, who walked 10 times and still lost. They hadn\u2019t walked 10 times in a home game and lost since July 6, 2002 against Montreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we had a chance,\u201d Harper said of the ninth inning. \u201cYou get the bases loaded with one out, you\u2019ve got to have better at-bats. Through and through. We had second and third in the fifth. I got a good pitch to hit and didn\u2019t come through. Just got to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering the ninth inning, the Phils had just four hits and walked seven times. Despite those 11 base runners, they scored just one earned run in the first eight innings.<\/p>\n
For the night, the Phils went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got guys out there,\u201d manager Don Mattingly said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t get hits at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattingly absolved Bohm for swinging at the first pitch with the bases loaded in the ninth.<\/p>\n
“I like it if he gets a hit or gets the ball in the air,” Mattingly said. “Obviously he’s not trying to hit a ground ball there.”<\/p>\n
Making his first start since joining the Blue Jays in a trade from the Angels, Jose Soriano held the Phils to two runs in 4 2\/3 innings. With runners on second and third and no outs in the fifth, he struck out Schwarber and Turner. Turner swung at three pitches out of the strike zone. Reliever Mason Fluharty then struck out Harper, leading to the boos.<\/p>\n
The Phils had another big chance in the seventh, but could not capitalize on three walks and left the bases loaded when Arraez flied out to center. After getting at least a hit and driving in at least a run in his first three games with the Phils, Arraez went hitless.<\/p>\n
Phillies starter Zack Wheeler lasted just 5 1\/3 innings and threw a whopping 116 pitches, the most he\u2019d thrown in a start in over five years. He allowed four runs while giving up seven hits, including a home run, and a season-high five walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t myself,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI felt great in the bullpen but it didn\u2019t carry over. I fell behind a lot of guys. I just wasn\u2019t sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
The final batter Wheeler faced, Toronto leadoff man Nathan Lukes, ended a 15-pitch showdown with a base hit to load the bases in the sixth inning. Wheeler departed down a run. Toronto quickly went up by two runs on a sacrifice fly by Alejandro Kirk against lefty Tim Mayza.<\/p>\n
Wheeler has had some interesting starts lately. His previous two were brief. He lasted just three innings in Miami on July 27. His stuff was down that night. He also reported feeling nauseous. His previous start at Baltimore was cut to two innings by rain.<\/p>\n
Rain delayed the start of Friday night\u2019s game, but the weather was clear by the time the right-hander took the mound. Wheeler rang up 16 swings and misses, but, overall, it was a grind for him and he admitted to being tired afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hot, humid and the air was just still,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the fourth inning, the Toronto dugout took issue with the way Wheeler was engaging with the rubber. The Jays contended that Wheeler was off the rubber to the first base side. It\u2019s something MLB has warned Wheeler against, but the pitcher said he\u2019s always engaged with the rubber and the Phillies have data to prove it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going do what I do,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI\u2019ve been pitching over there (on the first base side of the rubber) forever. (The Jays) have lost a lot of games over there so they\u2019re probably trying to pick some things up to complain about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jays\u2019 hitting coach David Popkins was most vocal against Wheeler. He yelled at Wheeler and the pitcher responded with a clear \u201cBleep You.\u201d Home plate umpire John Tumpane ejected Popkins.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cheerful energy that filled Citizens Bank Park for Chase Utley\u2019s Wall of Fame induction before Friday night\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,201779,99],"class_list":["post-807310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}