Phillies’ sluggish offense adds another forgettable loss to 2023 season
By Phil Sheridan
You might have thought a trip to San Francisco was a pretty good opportunity for a Phillies team trying to create momentum with the recent returns of Bryce Harper and Ranger Suarez.
You might have been wrong.
The Giants came into the game with a 17-23 record, while the Phillies were exactly .500, with a 20-20 mark. This was the kind of series that a contending team takes advantage of. Which isnt to say the Phillies arent a contending team, but they surely could have passed for one Monday night.
Alec Bohm understood the mission. The lanky third baseman cranked a 2-run home run to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the second inning. He later doubled and added an RBI with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
That was the Phillies offense in this 6-3 series-opening loss. After getting shut out Sunday in Colorado, and batting 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position, the other Phillies couldnt get a spark going on offense.
The heart of their batting order (and the bulk of their mammoth payroll) was basically absent. Trea Turner went 1-for-5 with a double. Bryce Harper was 1-for-4 with a single. Nick Castellanos was 0-for-4. Those three, the men the Phillies count on to be the engine room of their offense, struck out a total of 6 times.
When starting pitcher Bailey Falter gives up 6 runs in a messy second inning, the sluggish offense means another forgettable loss. And thats what happened here.
On the plus side, Falter pitched better from inning 3 to 5. Andrew Bellatti and Jeff Hoffman shut the Giants down for the rest of the game. Hoffman struck out 4 while pitching the seventh and eighth.
Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto extended his hitting streak to 8 games with a single in the eighth inning.
The loss was the Phillies second in a row after a 5-game winning streak. They dropped back below .500 at 20-21. They return Tuesday night (9:45 Eastern) for the second game of this 3-game set. Phillies righthander Zack Wheeler (3-2) is scheduled to face San Franciscos Alex Cole (3-1, 1.70). The series wraps Wednesday afternoon with a 3:45 game.
No news = good news
The Phillies were bracing for word that Bryce Harper might be disciplined for his role in Sundays dugout-clearing incident in Colorado. No word came, and Harper was back in the lineup Monday night.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said before Mondays game that he had not heard from the commissioners office.
No punches were thrown, Thomson said. I hope everything comes out clean and nobody gets suspended for it.
Harper charged Rockies reliever Jake Bird after Bird gestured animatedly toward the Phillies dugout after getting out of the seventh inning. No punches were thrown, but Harper did get into a shoving match with Colorado catcher Elias Diaz. Harper and Bird were ejected.
A suspension would seem a little excessive. Maybe 2 minutes for roughing.
