West coast road trip from hell: Phillies pounded by Giants 13-1
The Phillies were pounded 13-1 by the Giants on Friday night, continuing a troubling West Coast road trip in which they have allowed double digit runs in three of the past four games.
Giants (62-68) Beat Phillies (73-59)
- Winning Pitcher:Â Alex Cobb (5-6, 3.58)
- Losing Pitcher: Kyle Gibson (9-6, 4.48)
- Save:
Kyle Gibson was absolutely awful tonight failing. to make it through 2 innings while allowing 7 earned runs on 5 hits and an incredible 4 walks. Gibson had been fairly solid since a rough outing in which he gave up 6 earned runs immediately following the all star break against the Cubs on July 22nd. Since that day Gibson had posted 6 straight starts allowing 3 runs or less.
However, tonight Gibson was erratic from start of the 1st inning. The four walks he issued in less than two innings is far above his rate of 2.5 per 9 this season. Before the opening frame was over Gibson had allowed 6 straight Giants hitters to reach base either by single, double, walk, or wild pitch.
Joc Pederson blew the game open when he homered off Gibson in the 2nd inning, sending the baseball 415 feet into the dark waters of McCovey Cove, putting the Giants up 7-0. For Phillies pitching this is the third time in the last four games they have allowed double digit runs.
Aaron Nola 4 IP, 10H, 8ER,
Ranger Suarez 3.2 IP, 5H, 6R, 2ER
Kyle Gibson 1.2 IP, 5H, 7ER
As you can clearly see, it’s not the bullpen’s fault. The starting pitching, widely seen as the strength of the team has been especially bad since Zack Wheeler was put on the shelf with forearm soreness. It’s not that they are only bad, but they are also failing to pitch deep into games, putting extra unneeded stress on a bullpen dealing with its own rash of injuries.
It’s also has to be demoralizing for the offense, which undoubtedly begins to press once they are down 5 runs nightly in the 2nd or 3rd inning. The last 4 to 5 innings of these blowout losses, the Phillies batters are zombies, waiting until the 9th inning is over so they can finally feed on the rotting stat line of backup catcher turned relief pitcher Garrett Stubbs.
Alec Bohm tallied the only Phillies runs of the night with a meaningless RBI single in the 9th inning off Luis Gonzalez. Altogether the Phils only managed 5 hits and only had 4 total players in scoring position all night.
I think this goes without saying, but this team truly needs Noah Syndergaard to take the mound tomorrow afternoon and pitch deep into the game. I also need it for my sanity. Is there anything worse than watching blowout baseball at 1 in the morning?
Joc Pederson hits an extra long single off the right field wall to bring in the first run of the game.
1-0 Giants
Evan Longoria, who must be nearly 100 years old by now, doubles off Gibson for the Giants third run in the 1st inning.
3-0 Giants
JT Realmuto cant handle the wild pitch from Kyle Gibson allowing Brandon Crawford to score from third base. Oh boy!
4-0 Giants
Joc Pederson sends the 97th all-time home run into McCovey Cove to blow the game open for the Giants and end Gibsons horrible night.
7-0 Giants
Andrew Bellatti attempts a pick-off at first base and throws it all the way down the line into foul territory allowing the runner at first to scamper all the way to third. Geeze!
Andrew Knapp adds to the Giants blowout with a sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning.
8-0 Giants
Up Next for the Phillies
The Phillies will look to bounce back after Friday night’s shelling in game two of a three game series against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
Noah Syndergaard (8-9, 3.98) will toe the rubber facing off against Jakob Junis (4-4, 4.04) with the first pitch scheduled for 4:05 pm.
NBC Sports Philadelphia will carry the broadcast of the game.
Mandatory Photo Credit: The Washington Post
