Do the Phillies have a starter to replace Bailey Falter? Defense struggles, bats go cold late in 6-3 loss
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped an ugly series opener to the San Francisco Giants on Monday night by a final score of 6-3.
- Winning Pitcher: Scott Alexander (3-0)
- Losing Pitcher: Bailey Falter (0-7)
- Save: Camilo Doval (9)
The consistent struggles of Bailey Falter pushed the Phillies to use a reliever as their starter last night.
Connor Brogdon made just the second start of his career, with the plan to have him pitch at least one inning before handing the ball over to Falter. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and with only two outs in the first, Falter entered the game.
Brogdon and Falter managed to escape the first inning with no damage.
In the top of the second, Alec Bohm CRUSHED a two-run home run to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.Â
That’s where the fun ended for the Phillies. Bailey Falter fell apart in the bottom of the second inning and had zero help in the field as both Bryson Stott and Nick Castellanos made costly errors. For Stott, his dropped throw at second base loaded the bases for the Giants. It was his first ever error as a second baseman, ending his errorless streak at 84 games, the longest streak at second base to begin a Phillies career.
Falter allowed six hits and six unearned runs in the second.
Falter’s Miserable Second Inning.
- Single
- Fielders Choice
- Single
- Fielders Choice
- Sac Fly (2-1)
- 3-Run Homer (4-2)
- Double
- Single (5-2)
- Single (6-2)
Bailey Falter’s line: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
The Phillies attempted to chip back slowly in the top of the 6th inning after Bryce Harper reached on an infield single and Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto walked. Unfortunately, the Phillies recent struggles with runners in scoring position continued, as they managed to plate just one run on an Alec Bohm sac fly.Â
That was pretty much all she wrote last night in San Francisco. Nothing seemed to go the Phillies way as they finished the game 0-for-8 with RISP.
Alec Bohm was certainly a bright spot. After starting the season on fire, he definitely cooled down a bit but now over his last seven games, Bohm is hitting .280 with two home runs and six RBI.
Jeff Hoffman looked great once again, logging two innings out of the pen with four strikeouts. He’s now K’d eight in four innings of work for the Phils.
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How much longer can the Phillies pitch Bailey Falter?
Bailey Falter showed promise in 2022, and helped carried the load for the rotation late last summer when Zack Wheeler went down with an injury. Falter kept the confidence and threw some clutch innings in the playoffs as well, but he’s been the complete opposite of that this year.
The Phillies have now fallen to 1-7 in games started by Bailey Falter this year, and the one win was a five-inning outing where Bryson Stott walked it off vs. the Reds. Falter holds an 0-7 record on the year and is now up to a 5.13 ERA and 1.44 WHIP with just 28 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. He’s allowed 30 hits and 23 earned runs in that time.
Falter’s K/9 sits at 6.2 compared to 7.9 in 2022 and 9.1 in 2021. He’s not getting anywhere to as many swings and misses compared to his last two seasons, and his pitches per inning are the highest it’s ever been.
The scary thing, at this moment, is the Phillies don’t really have a better option. Michael Plassmeyer holds a 6.19 ERA in 30 Triple-A innings this season with just 37 strikeouts and a 1.50 WHIP. Cristopher Sanchez has a 6.14 ERA in 22 innings pitched and a 1.64 WHIP.
Two guys that were looked at as backup plans before Andrew Painter got hurt have turned into last-resort long relievers in a blowout game. Needless to say, that’s far from ideal.
Can’t imagine Falter starting more games for the Phillies.
The Phillies are back in action tonight at 9:45 EST with Zack Wheeler going up against Alex Cobb.
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