One of the keys to winning baseball games is hitting the ball. While it is possible to achieve victory without recording a base hit, history has shown that getting multiple hits in a ball game is far more conducive to winning. In their game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday, the Phillies did not get multiple hits. They only got one. One lousy hit. And that hit was promptly erased by a double play!
The hitless afternoon resulted in a 4-0 loss that put an end to the team’s four-game winning streak
and was Don Mattingly’s first loss as Phillies manager.
On the other side of the ball, Andrew Painter got the start for the Phillies, and he gave up several hits. In fact, in the second inning, Painter gave up three times as many hits as Phillies batters did all game. But he was somehow able to keep any of those runners from scoring.
In the top of the third, left fielder (!) Garrett Stubbs recorded the Phillies’ only base knock, only to be doubled up by a ground ball double play off the bat of Felix Reyes. (As you read these names, it starts to become clearer exactly why the Phillies struggled on offense.)
Painter again gave up three hits in the third inning, and this time, due to the fact that he also walked two batters with the bases loaded, the Phillies fell into a 2-0 hole.
Painter settled down a bit, but the Marlins extended their lead to 3-0 courtesy of a Xavier Edwards home run in the fifth.
The Marlins concluded their scoring in the sixth when a double, ground out, and infield single against Tanner Banks made the score 4-0.
This was far too much for the Phillies to overcome. Marlins starter Max Meyer struck out seven in his career-high seven innings and walked only one batter. Things didn’t improve after he left the game, as the Phillies went down in order in both the eighth and the ninth.
While the Phillies could be excused because they were missing a couple of starters, it should be noted that their stars didn’t exactly have great games either. Kyle Schwarber struck out three times, putting him at 0-8 with eight strikeouts in the series.
They’ll be back at it on Sunday afternoon. The Marlins will start righthander Chris Paddack who enters the game with a 6.11 ERA. I’m hoping the Phillies will do a little better against him, because let’s face it, they couldn’t do much worse.
