Phillies offense goes missing in 2-0 loss to Cardinals

The Phillies rolled into St. Louis and laid a goose egg Friday night at Busch Stadium. Andre Pallante silenced the Phils’ bats over seven shutout innings and rookie catcher Yohel Pozo played unlikely hero as the Cardinals edged out a 2-0 win in a game that felt like it was stuck in neutral from the start.

Aaron Nola

Well, Aaron Nola looked like himself—both the good version and the frustrating one. He struck out seven and mostly held the Cards in check… until the fifth inning, when a two-out RBI double by Pozo and a bases-loaded walk unraveled things.

Final line: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 K.

Not a disaster, but not good enough when your offense doesn’t show up.

Maybe the most concerning part of Nola’s outing: four walks in five innings, after walking just one across his first two starts combined.

Command has never been a major issue for Nola when he’s going well, so this outing raised eyebrows. The movement was there, the strikeouts were there, but he couldn’t consistently locate.

Yohel Who?

Yohel Pozo, making just his second appearance since being called up, stepped in behind the plate after Masyn Winn exited with back spasms in the second inning.

All he did after that was go 3-for-4 with an RBI double, a run scored, and catch a shutout like he was Yadi Molina reincarnated.

You can’t make this stuff up.

#STLCards reserve catcher Yohel Pozo, who entered the game only after Pedro Pages was moved to second base, drilled a double into the corner in left to score Thomas Saggese from first base. pic.twitter.com/T2Q5G37NG8

— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) April 12, 2025

The Lifeless Phillies Lineup

The Phillies offense went ice cold last night with just three hits across 30 at-bats, walking twice, striking out four times, and looking absolutely allergic to run-scoring opportunities.

Bryson Stott moves to the leadoff spot as the Phillies open up a weekend series in St. Louis

Harper and Schwarber hit back-to-back for the first time ever, and while the theory still holds water, the results looked like stale tea. One hit between them and not a single pitch that made Cardinals fans sweat.

The Lineup Holes Are Getting Bigger

• Alec Bohm (.151/.167/.170) looks like he’s swinging underwater.
• Marchán and Marsh were non-factors at the bottom of the order.
• Max Kepler is barely clinging to “replacement level” right now.

When 3 through 6 in your order can’t manufacture a run and the back half of the lineup might as well be swinging wiffle bats, you’re going to lose games — especially against a guy like Pallante, who isn’t exactly peak Wainwright.

Up Next

The Phillies will send Cristopher Sánchez (0-0, 4.09 ERA) to the mound Saturday to try and even the series. The Cardinals counter with Miles Mikolas (0-1, 11.25 ERA), who has been lit up like a Christmas tree to start the season. If the bats don’t wake up against Mikolas, we might have a bigger problem on our hands.

Bottom Line

It’s only April, but when you have Aaron Nola on the mound and face a team with more moving parts than a Rubik’s Cube, you’ve gotta take care of business. The Phillies didn’t.

They’ll need to get back on track today—because there’s nothing worse than getting shut out by a rookie catcher who wasn’t even supposed to be in the game.

Join The Chase