Phillies’ offense stagnates in second straight loss to Pirates

PITTSBURGH — Cristopher Sánchez typically pitches better his second and third times through the order, but on Saturday, that was when he struggled the most. Through his first five innings, the left-handed starting pitcher didn’t let the Pirates gain any momentum. He allowed a hit in each of his first four innings, but all of those runners were left on base.

But in the sixth, things quickly took a turn for the worse. Andrew McCutchen hit a solo home run to center field, and Bryan Reynolds singled to put a runner on first and no outs. Sánchez induced a double play, but then allowed another single, and an Oneil Cruz double drove another run home.

Sánchez exited after that, allowing two runs on eight hits with no walks and two strikeouts over 5 ⅔ innings of work.

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“Sanchy threw the ball good,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “He just got behind in the count to McCutchen, and I felt like his slider was a little inconsistent today, early on, so we didn’t use it as much as we wanted to. His changeup was good, he attacked the zone, I just thought the slider wasn’t there today, so we weren’t able to do some things we wanted to.”

On most nights, Sánchez’s outing would be would be good enough for a win. But not on Saturday night, when the Phillies combined for one run on four hits, en route to a 4-1 Phillies loss to the Pirates. Pittsburgh’s starter Luis Ortiz held the Phillies to just three hits and two walks over seven innings.

“We hit a ton of pop flys on pitches that guys felt like they were putting good swings on, but we were just missing them,” Realmuto said. “He was throwing that cutter that was a little deceptive, it looked like it was going to break, and then we all missed it, and hit under it, and hit a lot of fly balls. I felt like he did a good job of keeping us off balance with that, and attacking the strike zone.”

The offense fared no better against left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman. Chapman has struggled with walks this season, but had no problem striking out the side in the top of the eighth. In fairness to the Phillies, there were a few questionable calls. Johan Rojas took issue with a 103.3 mph called strike that was just outside of the zone, and Kyle Schwarber disputed a 102.7 mph called strike in the first pitch of his at-bat.

But regardless, the Phillies were unable to do any damage with the strike zone that home plate umpire Ryan Additon gave them.

Matt Strahm had the rare rough outing. Additon missed a call on fifth pitch of the at-bat — a strike that he mistakenly called a ball — that led to a walk for the left-handed reliever. He induced a flyout, a strikeout, but allowed a two-out home run to Cruz to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

Bryce Harper ensured that the Phillies didn’t get shut out. He hit a one-out solo home run 428 feet off of Pirates’ reliever David Bednar, which soared out of PNC Park. But Alec Bohm flew out and Realmuto grounded out to end the game.

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Johan Rojas was kept quite busy early in the game. He made three outs in the bottom of the first, including a diving catch that he just nabbed in the webbing of his glove. While he was on the grass, he gave the Mutombo finger wag.

Rojas made another out in the second, two in the third, another in the fourth, and another in the eighth.

“I think he’s making better decisions, I really do,” said manager Rob Thomson. “He’s playing under control at the same time. That catch in the first inning was incredible, it really was.”

Trea Turner did not fare as well. The Phillies’ shortstop was charged with a fielding error in the sixth, and had a ball slip under his glove in the eighth. It was ruled a hit.

Realmuto was activated off the 10-day injured list on Saturday morning. He got a nice ovation as he was walking towards the bullpen, and another ovation as came up to the plate in the second inning. He finished his night going 1-for-3 with a walk.

More important, though, was that he felt healthy.

“Physically I felt great,” Realmuto said. “I felt really good. Just trying to get back into rhythm, to get my timing back, but physically my body felt really good.”