Bullpen, defense melt down late in Minnesota as Phillies drop third straight series
Final score: Twins 5, Phillies 4
MINNEAPOLIS — It all unraveled quickly. The Phillies led by two in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Matt Strahm had just gotten Carlos Santana to lift a fly ball to left — deep left, but more than playable, ostensibly stranding two.
It dropped. Brandon Marsh got to it at the fence but appeared to lose it in the sun or lose track of the wall — or some combination of the two — and two runners scored. Tie game.
Two innings later, Gregory Soto lost control. He hit Trevor Larnach to lead off the inning, moved him over to second with a wild pitch and ultimately gave up a walk-off infield single.
“I didn’t really feel comfortable today,” Soto said postgame through an interpreter. “I felt good in the bullpen. It’s just something that happened during the game. The pitches weren’t falling where I wanted them to. And once that starts to happen, you feel less comfortable because you want to go out and do well, obviously.”
It came the day after Soto nearly gave the Twins the lead in the eighth inning of a scoreless game. He threw a wild pitch, walked his first batter on four pitches and fell behind 3-1 with the bases loaded in the eighth before Ryan Jeffers inexplicably swung and grounded out to end the inning.
“I thought he would,” manager Rob Thomson said postgame Wednesday about Soto taking advantage of his increased higher-leverage opportunities. “And maybe he will. He’s just not attacking the zone like he was those last 10, 11 outings before these last two.”
It looked like they’d get away with it after Kyle Schwarber broke an 0-for-20 with a go-ahead two run single in the sixth, then Nick Castellanos stretched the lead to 4-1 in the seventh, but the Phillies started the game 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They put ducks on the pond with no outs in the first and didn’t score. Loaded the bases with one out in the second and didn’t score. Hit a one-out double in the third and didn’t score.
It came back around. The Phillies scored nine runs in the three-game series.
“We had plenty of opportunities early in this game,” Thomson said. “And that’s really what it fell on. We just didn’t get any hits with runners in scoring position early … I think they’ll pull out of it ‘cause they’re great hitters. We got a lot of them in our lineup, we got a long lineup. I think we’re just going through a down stretch right now with our offense a little bit.”
Aaron Nola was in line for the win until the late implosion. He wasn’t his most dominant, allowing six hits, walking three and striking out six, but a second-deck homer by Matt Wallner was the lone blemish on his line.
Trea Turner later responded with his MLB-leading 10th homer of July.
The Phillies were seven outs from taking the three-game Minnesota series and ending their road trip 3-3. Instead, they head back to Philadelphia with three straight series losses under their belt.
“Just gotta get the job done,” Bryce Harper said after the game. “Obviously, two series that we feel like we could’ve won, but didn’t … We can’t let two games get away from us in the last two series like that. Just can’t happen if you’re gonna be a winning ballclub and be a winning team. That just can’t happen.”
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