The Phillies offense struggled against another left-handed starting pitcher, as this time Foster Griffin of the Nationals shut down the Philadelphia lineup while a back breaking two-run homer from Curtis Mead in the seventh put the game out of reach in a 4-1 loss. Griffin flummoxed the Phillies hitters all night, racking up nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings, the longest outing of his MLB career.
Tim Mayza started the game on the mound for the Phillies as an opener in the first attempt to fill the fifth
rotation spot vacated by the recently demoted Andrew Painter. He surrendered a leadoff double to James Wood before retiring Mead on a fly out that moved Wood to third. But Dylan Crews followed with a single off of Mayza to drive in the first run of the game. CJ Abrams then reached on an error by Trea Turner, his eighth of the season, before Mayza was able to end the inning with a pair of strikeouts.
It was then Alan Rangel’s opportunity to audition for that fifth spot, as he followed Mayza as the bulk pitcher. It didn’t start off too well, as he surrendered a home run to the second batter he faced in Luis Garcia Jr. to push the deficit to 2-0. Outside of that though, Rangel did just about as much as could have reasonably been asked of him. He finished five innings and allowed just that one run on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
The Phillies bats meanwhile could not figure out Griffin, as the lefty held them in check with seven strikeouts through the first four innings, including striking out the side in the fourth. Rafael Marchán led off the third with a single, but Turner quickly grounded into a force out before Kyle Schwarber lined out to center and Bryce Harper grounded out to first. The best scoring chance came in the fifth when Derek Hill hit a line drive to left field and just narrowly beat the throw from Crews to be safe at second with a leadoff double. He then advanced to third with one out when Bryson Stott grounded back to the pitcher. But Marchán popped out softly to shortstop on two pitches and Turner grounded out on the first pitch to third base that was deftly picked by Mead whose throw just beat Turner to the bag at first.
The sixth brought another chance for the Phillies, but yet again, they failed to break through against Griffin. Schwarber reached base on an error from second baseman Nasim Nuñez to begin the inning, but Griffin needed just six pitches to retire Harper on a fly out and Alec Bohm on a spectacular double play started by Nuñez to end the threat.
It took until the seventh, but the Phillies did finally get a run across against Griffin thanks to a Brandon Marsh solo homer to right field for his 10th home run of the season. On the night, Griffin finished with 7.1 IP, four hits, no walks, and nine strikeouts. But Marsh’s homer brought the Phillies right back into the game, cutting the then 2-0 deficit in half. The comeback attempt wouldn’t last long though, as Seth Johnson allowed the two-run shot to Mead in the bottom half of the inning to put the Phillies down three.
The Phillies went down quietly in the eighth against another lefty in Richard Lovelady before Harper led off the ninth with a single against Clayton Beeter. But before you could even get your hopes up, Alec Bohm dashed them with a quick double play on the first pitch he saw. Justin Crawford had the honor of being the game’s last out, striking out after being used as a pinch hitter for Edmundo Sosa.
Tomorrow’s matchup
Jesús Luzardo (6-4, 4.20) will look to get the Phillies back on track against Zack Littell (6-6, 5.45) of the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45.
