SAN FRANCISCO – On a typically chilly summer night in the Bay Area, it was hoped that there wouldn’t be much action going on in the Phillies bullpen. Not that the work wouldn’t have kept the relievers warm, with Taijuan Walker once again thrusting into the starter’s role for Tuesday’s game in which he will see limited innings.
With snubbed All-Star Cristopher Sánchez on the mound, that didn’t appear to be an imminent problem against the San Francisco Giants on Monday. But when Sánchez was already at 59 thrown pitches through three innings, and had to continuously work out of precarious situations, many had to wonder what the immediate future may hold for the pitching staff.
In a game filled with defensive miscues, a ball careening off an infield cutout for a double, a run-saving ground-rule double, a run scoring on a wild pitch and a bunch of umpire missed calls, Sánchez pushed all that aside and settled in for a gutty, grinding and outstanding performance through seven innings. Erratic pitching from Orion Kerkering and very questionable calls from the home plate umpire led to a 3-1 loss for the Phillies in the opener of a six-game road trip.
“In the second inning, where they loaded the bases, he did a great job getting out of that with just one run,” said manager Rob Thomson. “Just getting behind guys early. I thought he was really good and battled through a couple of rough jams and I didn’t think there were that many balls hit hard off him. He got a lot of swings and misses, a lot of soft contact, ground balls. I thought he did a great job getting through seven.”
Sánchez allowed just one run in the second, though he gave up consecutive singles and a walk to begin the inning. A strikeout, a run-scoring fielders’ choice and a groundout ended what could have been worse.
Then in the third, a fly ball to short right with one out somehow landed between an incoming Nick Castellanos and an outgoing Bryson Stott. An out later, Matt Chapman hit a rocket to center that turned Brandon Marsh around twice before bouncing over the shortest part of the outfield wall for a ground-rule double. With runners on second and third, Sánchez struck out Wilmer Flores to end that threat.
From there he settled into the form that should have been All-Star rewarded, retiring 12 of the next 15 batters he faced, racking up 105 pitches and saving strain on a bullpen that will almost certainly have just that on Tuesday.
But the Phillies offense couldn’t reward him with much support, as the lone run they scraped across came when Bryson Stott led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch by starter Landen Roupp.
“I think it went well,” said Sánchez. “I was sticking to the plan that we had to attack hitters early on. It was teamwork with J.T. (Realmuto) tonight, too. That motivates me a lot (not being named to All-Star team). We might not be going through our best stretch hitting right now so that motivates me a lot too, to have my team’s back and hold on and throw as many scoreless innings as I can to get games close and give our team a chance to win.”
Adding to the strangeness of the night were two horribly called strikes on Bryce Harper by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. The first came with a man on in the fifth on a ball clearly above the strike zone. The second on an 0-1 pitch in the eighth with a runner on and no outs. That totally changed Harper’s approach and led to a ground out to the pitcher.
Then Kerkering, after hitting leadoff batter Willy Adames, appeared to strikeout Matt Chapman not once but twice on pitches clearly in the zone, but Cuzzi saw otherwise, setting up the winning half inning where the Giants scored twice with just one ball leaving the infield, courtesy of a pair of fielders’ choices.
“I feel like anytime I complain it’s pretty obvious,” said Harper of the missed calls. “He knows he missed them. Sometimes that happens. Umpire took over the game. I couldn’t say much more, I didn’t want to. I barely said anything to him when I walked off the first time on the strike three that was up. I respect Phil, I like Phil a lot. But obviously that doesn’t help us in that situation. He’s got to do better.”
As for his night, in which he had a hit and a walk in four plate appearances, Harper is feeling better after striking out five of his last six at-bats. “I felt confident today, felt really good where I was,” he said. “That’s going to be in for some good counts and be in some good situations.”
His manager agreed. “I think he got a couple of swings off that I really liked,” said Thomson. “It looked normal. He was balanced and a lot of bat speed. Nice to see him get a base hit his first at-bat, walks, hopefully we’re making strides here.”
During all the craziness of the game, there were some positives to be taken. Kerkering’s work in the eighth, however, was not one of them.
“I haven’t seen the pitches yet, I haven’t looked at the tape, but he (Kerkering) was having trouble gripping the ball, for whatever reason, the ball was a little bit slick,” said Thomson. “It was more on his slider than his fastball.
More than any other sport, you have to live to play another day in baseball. Sánchez’ effort allowed the Phillies to do just that.
Walker with a rested bullpen is the best case scenario Thomson could have asked for. Well, that and a win on Monday. But, sometimes, you just have to take what you can get. No matter the strange form in which it comes.
“Every time I’m on the mound I’m just thinking about going as late as I can in the game so we don’t have to go to the bullpen as often,” Sánchez said. It was certainly needed last night.
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