SHOCKING! 9/10/26 PHILLIES POSTGAME RECAP
Well... we probably should have seen this coming...
After an 11-run outburst from the Phillies bats on Wednesday night, three hits in six innings were pretty much all the bats could muster today, as the Astros took two of three games. The Phillies finish the homestand after also splitting the series VS the Atlanta Braves.
“I think we’ll be OK,” Bryce Harper said. "We’ve got to do it. If we don’t, it’s going to look exactly like it did the last couple years.”
THE GOOD: Zack Wheeler
Wheeler pitched seven innings of allowing just one run, giving up five hits, walked two and struck out nine.
So is Wheeler back to his normal self? After a strech of in august where he let up 8 runs to the Mariners and 4 runs in back to back games, Wheels finally looks like his dominate self.
“Wheels was really good,” manager Don Mattingly said. “When you get that kind of start, you expect to win. We just weren’t able to get anything going all day.”
Zack did his best late in today's game, striking out the side in the 6th and battled through a bases loaded jam the next inning.
Almost out of gas, Wheeler issued two straight two-out walks in the seventh as the Astros loaded the bases with the game tied up 1-1 The righty was at 105 pitches when Houston sent pinch-hitter Yainer Diaz to the dish. With the crowd of 37,100 on its feet, Wheeler punched out Diaz on a 2-2 sweeper to keep the game knotted at 1. It was his 110th pitch and he left the mound to a standing ovation from the Philly Faithful.
THE BAD: BATS AND THE BASE RUNNING
Bryson Stott drove in Luis Arraez to give the Phils life! Great right? Nope... The ball Stott hit was to 2nd base. Guess who was right in the middle of second and third. Pena scooped it up and fired to Issac Paredes, where Bohm was essentially a sitting duck,
The bats also struck out against Christian Javier nine times and chased 34 pitches out of the strike zone, a season-high 52 percent and the fifth-highest percentage in a single game this season in all of major league baseball according to Statcast.
The Phillies were a league best 21-7 in August. The team chase rate was just 29.7 percent, and their 15.9 percent strikeout rate was tops in MLB. So far in September, the strikeout rate is higher than 22 percent. The team’s walk rate has dwindled from over 11 percent in August to under 7 percent this month.
That could make the difference going down the stretch as hope for a division championship fade. Philadelphia is 4 games behind Atlanta for the East, with 15 to play. The Braves hold a tie-breaker vs the Phils based on head-to-head record. As the Phils head to play the Braves, a sweep is needed to have any kind of chance as October dawns over the horizon.
Photo Credits: NBC Sports Philadelphia
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