Aaron Nola and the Phillies bullpen couldn’t find their way out of a jam in the sixth inning while their bats struggled to take advantage of opportunities in a 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Nola started the sixth with a 3-2 lead but left with only one out recorded and the game tied. Meanwhile the Phillies offense went 0-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six runners on base as Zac Gallen completed seven innings with 9 strikeouts
The bats started off hot, as Harrison Bader walked to begin the game and Kyle Schwarber immediately doubled him in two pitches later. A Bryce Harper groundout moved Schwarber to third where he was able to score from on a J.T. Realmuto sacrifice fly, giving the Phillies a quick 2-0 lead.
But Arizona started quickly as well, as Geraldo Perdomo led off the bottom half of the first with a double off of Nola with a bloop hit into shallow left that Alec Bohm couldn’t hang on to. Nola then retired Ketel Marte on a groundout before Corbin Carroll singled through the right side to score Perdomo and cut the lead to 2-1. But Nola was able to escape further damage by getting Gabriel Moreno to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Nola ran into trouble again in the third, again allowing a leadoff to double, this time to Jake McCarthy. Perdomo moved him to third with a groundout before Marte singled just off of the tip of Harper’s glove at first to tie the game at 2-2. But Nola was once again able to quickly end the threat there by inducing a lineout and a groundout to end the third.
The Phillies went back ahead in the see-saw affair when Alec Bohm blasted a solo home run in the fourth with two outs. It was Bohm’s tenth homer of the season and his first since August 17th.
But that was ultimately all of the offense the Phillies could muster off of Galen, who despite allowing the three runs, lasted seven innings and allowed only four hits and two walks.
Both pitchers settled into a grove in the middle innings, but Nola was unable to last as long as his counterpart. He began the sixth with a groundout after recording his first clean inning of the night in the fifth. Then trouble found him once again, as he allowed a one-out, first pitch double to Blaze Alexander to put the tying run in scoring position. Despite having Tanner Banks seemingly ready to enter the game, Rob Thomson elected to give Nola another batter in the shape of James McCann.
That decision would prove to be ill-advised, as McCann also doubled after getting ahead 2-0 in the count and tied the game at 3-3 and ended Nola’s night. Banks did enter and record a strikeout for the second out, but he was not able to fully extinguish the fire as McCann came around to score on an Ildemaro Vargas single in an 0-2 count that landed just past the outstretched glove of the ranging Bryson Stott at shortstop.
Banks allowed another single and a walk before finally ending the inning with a strikeout of Marte. The lefty needed 28 pitches to record two outs. Meanwhile, Banks’ work closed the book on Nola who finished 5.1 innings and was charged with 4 runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
The Phillies offense had plenty of opportunities to tie the game again or retake the lead, but they were not able to come through with the big hit. Otto Kemp went to second on a throwing error with two outs in sixth before Stott walked to put two on, but Bader grounded out to nullify that chance.
The best opportunity came in the eighth when Schwarber led off with a single off of new pitcher Brandyn Garcia. Harper then hit a high chopper towards the hole at short that was gloved with a fantastic play by the third baseman Alexander who was able to record the out at second base.
Realmuto followed with a single to put runners at the corners with just one out for Brandon Marsh. However, Marsh wasn’t able to put it in play against the lefty Garcia and struck out looking on a sweeper at the knees. Right hander Ryan Thompson then entered to face Bohm and got him to fly out to end the inning on a hanging slider over the middle of the plate.
The Phillies got another runner on when Stott singled with two outs in the ninth against John Curtiss, but Bader grounded out to short on the first pitch to end the game and seal a D-Backs win.
Philadelphia will look to capture the series win when it sends Ranger Suárez (12-6, 2.84) to the mound against Eduardo Rodriguez (8-8, 5.12) for Arizona. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM.
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