Phillies held to just two hits in 1-0 loss to Cleveland Guardians, their fourth straight
The Phillies have lost four straight and have held onto their wild-card spot only because the Marlins have lost eight straight games.
CLEVELAND — As inning after inning went by on Saturday night, it became clear that this game was going to come down to the slimmest of margins. Phillies starter Zack Wheeler and Guardians starter Tanner Bibee hadn’t allowed any runs — or much hard contact, with just three total hits — through the first five innings.
But in the sixth, the Guardians found an edge. Wheeler was pitching with two outs and Amed Rosario on first base. Jose Ramirez popped a ball up to right-center field. It should have been caught, but the outfielders were playing too deep and didn’t react quickly enough. The ball dropped between Bryson Stott, Nick Castellanos, and Brandon Marsh. Rosario scored from first.
Manager Rob Thomson called it a miscommunication. Castellanos and Stott agreed. Stott thought he heard Castellanos say something just before the ball reached the ground and interpreted that as a sign to back off. Castellanos said he assumed Stott was under it and didn’t call him off. Regardless, Thomson said it was up to one of the outfielders to make the play.
“They got a late break,” Thomson said. “And sometimes, if you’re not really sure you can get there, you’re not going to call it. But I think somebody should have been there. We’ve got to catch that baseball.”
Added Castellanos: “I think it’s our responsibility to take charge and not assume that the infielder is going to make the play.”
Wheeler didn’t let things unravel from there. He allowed another single, and then induced a lineout by Josh Bell to end the sixth. He came out for the seventh and retired his first two batters and allowed a walk to Myles Straw, before catcher J.T. Realmuto threw Straw out at second. It was one of his better outings of the season, and a game he deserved to win. Instead, he was charged with the loss, after the Phillies fell, 1-0, to the Guardians.
Wheeler was commanding the ball as well as he has all year. Of the 109 pitches he threw, 77 were strikes. He ran his pitch count up in that sixth inning. Had that Ramirez pop-up been caught, he would’ve thrown 18 pitches that inning. Instead, he threw 26.
Wheeler said he spent his All-Star break “fixing” his leg kick, which led to his improved command on Saturday night.
“We had a little time to work on my leg kick,” Wheeler said. “My foot was staying out a little bit from my body when I was starting to go to home plate, so it wasn’t getting back underneath me like I needed it to. I was rotating more. Staying over myself and down. So we fixed that. The leg kick was a little better. I think it helped everything else too, fastball and offspeed.
“It made it a little easier, mechanically, to throw more quality strikes where I wanted to.”
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Matt Strahm pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, but the Phillies were unable to rally in the ninth. On Friday night, they squandered three bases-loaded opportunities, going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. On Saturday night, they managed only two hits and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
The game came down to the top of the Phillies’ order in the ninth, a group that has struggled lately. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, the Phillies’ one- and two-hole hitters, have batted .169 and .234 over their last 15 games, respectively. Schwarber struck out to lead off the ninth, and Turner grounded out. Castellanos, who has batted .115 over his last 15 games, grounded out to end the game and give the series win to the Guardians.
He said he’s been working on finding a feel at the plate.
“Just looking for a feel right now,” he said. “For me, hitting is a feeling, and I’ve kind of been searching for it the last 15 games or so.”
In all, it was a lifeless performance. It also was the Phillies’ fourth straight loss. They’ve lost their wild-card spot, but are only one game out because the Marlins have lost eight straight games, the Diamondbacks have lost three straight, and the Giants have lost four straight.
“You’ve got to win those games,” Thomson said. “Those are like playoff games, you’ve got to win it. You can’t break down fundamentally. You’ve got to create runs and grind and fight and win those games.”