Even when you’re watching on TV, you can tell the ballpark has no juice. The fans roared boos from time to time when the offense did nothing but there was just no energy the entire night. The 2026 Philadelphia Phillies do not deserve it. They entered this game with their magic number at two and once again failed to control their own destiny.
The Phillies have scored two runs in their last three games. An offense that already ranked as one of the worst in baseball is hitting a horrible cold streak
at the wrong time. They just lost their cleanup hitter and replaced him with Edmundo Sosa, hitting ninth, who went hitless with a throwing error.
The first two innings for Cristopher Sánchez were not swimming in excellence; he allowed three straight two-out singles in the first to give the Tampa Bay Rays an early lead and a Nick Fortes home run in the second. However, that probably shouldn’t end the game.
Sánchez would do whatever he could to right those first two innings. He probably got a bit lucky when Junior Caminero’s 107 mph flyball died at the track on a windy night but he was nearly flawless beyond that. After a Jonathan Aranda walk in the fifth, Sanchez retired the next seven batters he faced on strikeouts, ending Jorge Matteo in the seventh inning with two unhittable changeups.
If the Phillies somehow finish this collapse and don’t get the chance to play a playoff game, there won’t be many players blameless. If there is one guy who doesn’t deserve criticism, it’s Sánchez. While the Rays have nothing to play for, striking out ten batters over seven innings against one of the best teams in the sport should lead to a win.
But his offense offered no support. Freddy Peralta took the ball for the Rays and it isn’t like he should be unhittable. He has performed a lot better for the Rays compared to his tenure with the New York Mets but that’s still a 117 ERA+ over nine starts. That’s good but nothing special.
The Phillies made him look a bit special. He allowed a Bryson Stott leadoff single in the second but nothing materialized. Brandon Marsh cannot escape the depths of sadness he is in and hit a lazy flyball to Jonny DeLuca in center field, followed by a Justin Crawford double play.
Even though it was a two run game, the Phillies carried three opportunities tonight where one of their top baserunners reached first base to leadoff the inning. Stott did in that second inning, Justin Crawford hit a Baltimore chopper in the sixth and Trea Turner took a Freddy Peralta fastball to right field in the sixth. The Phillies never tried putting a runner in motion, despite an offense that clearly needs some juice.
It’s hindsight but it’s worth a thought nonetheless.
The worst one of these innings has to be the sixth. Trea Turner reached based on that aforementioned single and Bryce Harper followed him up with a single of his own.
With two and no one out, Alec Bohm hit a worked a full count but hit the seventh pitch right to Jonathan Aranda at first base, who’s only out was to first base.
That still left runners on second and third with one out. Left hander Cam Booser came out of the Rays bullpen to face Bryson Stott, who fouled off a couple of well placed fastballs before hitting a soft line drive right at Ben Williamson at second base.
Don Mattingly called Bryan De La Cruz to hit for the struggling Brandon Marsh, and hit a line drive kind of hard but right at Jorge Matteo at shortstop to end the inning.
The Phillies would not have another reach base the rest of the night. Jhoan Duran pitched the eighth inning against the Rays top of the order but did not return for the ninth when the top of the Phillies order went down in order. Tim Mayza worked a meaningless ninth and the Phillies didn’t make Rays closer Bryan Baker work a sweat.
The Phillies do not need a Diamondbacks loss tonight but they could sure use it. A win from them only puts more pressure on a Phillies team that can’t string anything together. Remember, the Diamondbacks have the tie breaker so if both teams are locked with the same record, the Diamondbacks get in.
Things are getting bad. BAD… BAD.
