The Phillies have been scoring a ton of runs lately but yesterday just wasn’t one of those days. The Phillies 6-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox snapped their 4-game win streak. The ball club hasn’t had a five-game win streak since early August 2018.

The game started off great as the Phillies were able to load the bases in the 1st inning with no outs against Boston Red Sox pitcher Kyle Hart. This is exactly how we thought the game was going to go, but unfortunately, the Phillies only plated two runs and nothing really happened after that.

One highlight that I really enjoyed:

Ho hum. 😴 pic.twitter.com/SpMtSKa1Ec

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 19, 2020

Corey Sideman hit us with some advanced analytics yesterday and my god are they impressive: 100 stolen base attempts against J.T. Realmuto as a Phillie entering yesterday. 53 successful, 47 caught. League average: 26%. You simply do not want to run on JT Realmuto.

Jake Arrieta stinks. Yesterday was no different. He had zero command and was out of the game in 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs on five hits and only struck out three. An astounding 25 of Jake Arrieta’s 59 starts for the Phillies have been 5 innings or less.

Lucky for Jake, he comes in 3rd place for the worst sports contracts in Philadelphia behind Al Horford and Tobias Harris, but we’ll get to that later.

Next up the Phillies take on the Toronto Blue Jays in Buffalo since their home country of Canada won’t let them play. The Blue Jays are 10-11. The Phillies are 9-10. Both teams will look to make-up some ground today.

Game 1:

Spencer Howard (0-1, 7.88 ERA, 6K) will return to the mound for the Phillies. The ball club’s #2 prospect will look to get things moving for the Phillies after two subpar outings, the last of which resulted in him leaving the game early with a blister on his thumb.

The Blue Jays have Chase Anderson (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 4K) on the mound. Chase has made two efficient starts since returning from an injury, but they were only 3-innings each. With a double-header and a desperate need for bullpen arms, Anderson will be relied on to pitch much more than that.

Game 2: 

Vincent Velasquez will throw for the Phillies in game two. Once the 5th starter just a month ago, Velasquez is now lucky to be a starting pitcher. With a bunch of double-headers on the schedule, he will continue to get his chances. He’s currently 0-0, with a 7.82 ERA, and 11ks.

The Jays will send yet another pitcher coming off an injury to the mound in Trent Thornton. Much like Anderson, Thornton hasn’t thrown deep into games. In his lone start this year, Thornton threw 4 innings, allowing one one and eight hits.

Both of these games against the Blue Jays are obviously big for both teams as they each have a chance to go over .500. The Phillies offense should be able to provide enough spark against two pitchers that haven’t made any headlines this year.

The key will be for Howard and Velasquez to pitch well and deep into the games to protect the team from a bullpen that continues to disappoint.

This city needs some wins after just a brutal day yesterday.

Welcome to @TheMiseryReport pic.twitter.com/iWO82f3O0Q

— TMR (@TheMiseryReport) August 20, 2020

Ring that bell, baby.

ps. make sure to hit up our DSGN Tree shop for some fire custom Phillies shirts.

#RingTheBell | @LibertyLinePHL

Jake Arrieta on the mound at 1:35pm

🔗 https://t.co/B6gxaIfro2
🔗 https://t.co/B6gxaIfro2
🔗 https://t.co/B6gxaIfro2
🔗 https://t.co/B6gxaIfro2 pic.twitter.com/22OHXxEXeZ

— The Liberty Line (@LibertyLinePHL) August 19, 2020