Defensive miscues plague Phillies’ fourth straight series opening loss, this time vs. Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians didn’t hit Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez particularly hard on Friday.

Sánchez scattered eight hits — all singles — across six innings, and only allowed contact harder than 95 mph twice. But the Phillies infield was plagued by defensive miscues, and the Guardians capitalized just enough for a 3-1 win to open the series.

“It’s just the ebbs and flows in the season,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “That’s what I talk about all the time.”

Bryson Stott led off the fifth inning with a homer to right field, but that was the extent of Sánchez’s run support. The Phillies were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

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The Phillies’ defense was sloppy from the start. After Guardians rookie Angel Martínez singled on an infield hit in the first inning, Sánchez caught him off the bag with a pickoff attempt. Martínez ended up in a run down with Bryce Harper, but a miscommunication between Trea Turner and Stott left second base open for Martínez to dive in safely and escape what looked like a sure out.

Martínez then scored from second on a single from David Fry two batters later.

“It’s just a part of the game. Those things are bound to happen, and I didn’t blame anyone on that,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I know that we all wanted to get them out.”

The miscues continued with Turner charged with a throwing error in the second and Sánchez committing a catching error in the third, though each time the Phillies ended the inning without any further damage.

In the fourth inning, they weren’t as lucky. Brayan Rocchio took an aggressive turn toward second base after hitting a single to center field, and tried to return to first. Harper cut off the throw from Johan Rojas, but no one covered first base. Sánchez then failed to make an out on a sacrifice bunt, which scored a second run for Cleveland.

A single from Martínez brought Rocchio home, and put the Phillies down three runs.

“It’s uncharacteristic of us,” Thomson said. “We’ve got to clean it up, and I’m not sure what it is. I mean, our pregame work was crisp, and guys had a lot of energy coming off the off day [on Thursday]. But we’ve got to throw the ball accurately, and we’ve got to cover all our assignments.”

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Though the Phillies’ bullpen has been a weak point lately, it was effective against the Guardians. José Ruiz entered the game in relief for Sánchez and pitched a scoreless seventh. José Alvarado came out for the eighth and retired the side in order.

“Alvarado, I mean, he looks like he’s right back to where he was,” said Thomson.

Orion Kerkering took over in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff bunt single, but responded with a strikeout and induced a double play to end the inning.

At the plate, the Phillies had difficulty determining umpire Rob Drake’s strike zone, as four of their seven strikeouts were looking. Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long was ejected by Drake in the third inning for taking objection to a called strike.

“They’ve got to try and make as best of an adjustment as they possibly can, and they can’t let that bother them,” Thomson said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out where the strike zone is. But like I’ve always said, you got to overcome things that you can’t control.”