Phillies take 2/3 from a great Cleveland Guardians team as they win their fifth straight series
On Friday night, the Phillies would come crashing back to Earth. Aaron Nola would slip back to his frustrating ways of not being outright bad, but also struggling to get outs, as he would go five innings and allow four runs. Three of the four runs would be scored on long balls, too, as Nola would allow two more home runs. When he left the game, it was 4-0. The Phillies’ offense would continue the tradition of not scoring for Nola as they made his last start look like an aberration. On Friday night, though, they would continue to not score for the entirety of the game, falling 6-0 to Cleveland in the opener. The Phillies would scatter twelve baserunners, but ultimately go 0-8 with runners in scoring position. Nola’s record has now fallen to an abysmal 1-6 on the season. While his pitching has not been all that great, that metric is more of an indicator of how poor the offense has been when he is on the mound. Nola’s lone win came in his only start this year in which his team scored more than two runs.
The Phillies’ offense would come out equally slumpish on Saturday, as through the first seven innings, they could only manage one run. In comparison to Friday night, though, Ranger Suarez was absolutely brilliant. Looking to be back into classic Ranger form, the lefty would go seven shutout innings and only allow four total baserunners while striking out five against a very competent Guardians offense. Suarez was ruthlessly efficient, only needing 88 pitches to go seven. In the eighth inning, the offense’s floodgates would finally open as a 1-0 lead would become a laugher at 7-0. Of the offensive menagerie that took place, Bryce Harper would hit a much-needed bomb to make it 3-0. Max Kepler would make it 5-0 with a two-run double, and both Edmundo Sosa and Brandon Marsh would each get RBI singles to make it 7-0. The Phils would then shut the door and win 7-1 in a dominant performance.
With the first two games of the series being laughers, Sunday night’s primetime matchup would be of a much tighter variety. Zack Wheeler was stellar once again, shutting out the Guardians over seven innings while only allowing them to get hits in the first and sixth innings as he struck out eight. Kyle Schwarber would give the Phillies the 1-0 lead in the second inning with his 13th homerun of the season, and with it continues his remarkable on-base game streak, which is now at 46. That would be Cleveland’s Luis Ortiz’s only blemish of the day, as he would give the Phillies fits as they would strike out nine times and really not get anything started. In the top of the 8th, though, it would be Kyle Schwarber again going deep for his 14th, as he took lefty Tim Herrin deep for a two-run homer that gave the Phillies a much-needed cushion of a 3-0 lead. Schwarber is now responsible for 1/3 of all Phillies home runs hit this season and is tied with Aaron Judge for the most in baseball. After extending the lead, José Alvarado would make light work of the bottom half. In the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies would give Jordan Romano his first shot at a save in over three weeks since the Marlins debacle. The new look Romano would torpedo the heart of the Cleveland lineup to now having five straight scoreless outings and no runs in nine of his last eleven appearances. The Phillies would take the series.
This was a tough series on the road against a tough opponent. Despite the opening game, the Phillies continued to chug along and handle business as the pitching stepped into overdrive, only allowing one run in the two wins, and the offense did enough. All facets of their game are beginning to produce. It was great to see the offense bounce right back after the clunker they had on Friday. As we all know, this team’s streakiness has been its Achilles heel, so if they can continue to follow up a bad offensive game by immediately hopping back on the horse, that will be massive come October. This team is doing what you want to see them do early in the year, which is simple: just handle their business. They are now 24-16, which is the fifth-best record in baseball, and are impressively 10-9 against playoff teams on the year. They find themselves 1.5 games back of the Mets and currently would be the 2nd wildcard team if the season ended today, and if they continue on their current pace will win about 96 games. God Bless Kyle Schwarber.