The Phillies’ bullpen adventures continue with rough outing by Archie Bradley
Bradley, who had not pitched because of shoulder soreness, came on in the eighth, loaded the bases with two out and allowed two runs that narrowed the Phillies' lead to one run.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi felt starter Ranger Suárez was out of gas Sunday when he lifted him with one out in the sixth inning and his team leading the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-1. As usual, however, the Phils’ bullpen didn’t exactly get the last 11 outs in routine fashion.
After Connor Brogdon gave up a run in the seventh on back-to-back doubles, Archie Bradley came on in the eighth after not having pitched since Tuesday because of shoulder discomfort.
Bradley got the first two outs but then loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. Nick Ahmed then knocked in two with a single to make it a one-run game, sending Bradley out of the game to a chorus of boos from the Citizens Bank Park crowd of 22,237. Héctor Neris came on to get the last out of the inning.
“Archie seems to do a little bit better when he started pitching more, and because he’s been a little banged up, we’ve kind of spread it out,” Girardi said. “He said he felt fine. Obviously, that’s always my concern, so I think he’ll get back on a roll for us, I do.”
Ian Kennedy worked the ninth and retired the side in order with two strikeouts to pick up his fifth save in six opportunities.
Calling all catchers
With J.T. Realmuto being day to day after leaving Sunday’s game with left ankle soreness, Girardi might have to come up with a backup catcher Monday night against Washington if the All-Star is sidelined.
But immediately following the game, he admitted, “I haven’t gotten that far.”
“I have to look at what I thought of the matchups. I’m not there yet,” he said. “Obviously, I would have had him play first on Tuesday because I think we have [left-hander Patrick] Corbin, right? But it’s going to be a day by day sort of thing.”
Rafael Marchán was the Phillies’ catcher on Sunday. If he had to come out of the game for any reason, Girardi said he was ready to go with Ronald Torreyes behind the plate, with Nick Maton moving to third base.
Running into outs
Bryce Harper gambled twice on the base paths after leading off the seventh inning with a double down the right-field line, and the second time didn’t go so well.
Andrew McCutchen followed with a fly ball to medium center field and Harper barely beat the throw to third. But Jorge Bonifacio then hit a shorter fly ball to right field, and the throw home beat Harper by 20 feet, with Arizona catcher Carson Kelly waiting to tag him.
“That’s something we’ve got to talk about,” Girardi said. “I’ll talk amongst everybody and have a better idea what happened.”
The next series
Zach Wheeler (10-9, 2.90 ERA) will open the Phillies series in Washington against right-hander Josiah Gray (0-1, 3.75) on Monday night. Left-handers Matt Moore (2-4, 6.12) and Patrick Corbin (7-13, 6.09) will square off Tuesday night. Aaron Nola (7-7, 4.30) and the Nationals’ Paolo Espino (4-4, 4.13) will match up Wednesday night.
The Phillies follow that with trips to Miami for three games against the Marlins, and to Milwaukee for three games versus the Brewers.
Phill-ins
The Phillies placed shortstop Didi Gregorius on the paternity list, with Freddy Galvis manning the position Sunday. Nick Maton was called up from Lehigh Valley to take his place on the roster. … With left-hander Madison Bumgarner on the mound for Arizona, Girardi rested Odúbel Herrera and went with Bonifacio in center field. Herrera entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and singled and stole a base. … Jean Segura played in his 1,200th career game.