Snakebitten no more: Phillies 5, Diamondbacks 4
The Phillies earned their first series win in Arizona since 2016 and climbed over .500 with a 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks to take three of four. Bryson Stott clubbed his seventh home run of the year and Aaron Nola rebounded from a rough third inning to hand it over to a bullpen that held a one run lead.
Philadelphia swung early and often against D-Backs starter Ryne Nelson who went six innings and allowed one run on May 23rd at Citizens Bank Park. This time however, the Phillies jumped all over him with five hits on the first pitch of an-bat through four innings. That includes Stott’s home run which gave the Phillies the lead in the second.
Trea Turner would add another run with an RBI infield single in the second before Alec Bohm added a third run with a double into the gap in the third. By the time Nelson exited after four innings, the Phillies had tagged him for 5 runs on 10 hits with 4 extra-base hits.
Nola’s inconsistencies continued
Aaron Nola cruised through the first two innings with two strikeouts and no baserunners allowed. However, as has been the case this season, it fell apart once he allowed a baserunner and had to pitch from the stretch. Kyle Schwarber misplayed a ball that should’ve been an error but was ruled a double to begin the third. Nola promptly allowed two consecutive singles to cut the lead to 3-1. After getting the first out on a groundout, Nola then allowed a no-doubt three-run home run to Ketel Marte to surrender the lead.
Marte mashed for the lead! pic.twitter.com/HrhaVMgs7G — Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 15, 2023
Nola has now allowed a home run in 11 consecutive starts and 15 total long balls on the year, tied for the second most in all of baseball. He also entered today with a .299/.350/.523 opponent’s line with men on as opposed to a .192/.240/.356 line with no one on base.
But to his credit, Nola rebounded from that rough third inning to settle back in and finish 6 2⁄ 3 IP without allowing any more runs and notching 9 total strikeouts, including striking out the side in next inning after the home run.
After Aaron Nola gives up the four-spot in the third, he comes back and throws three scoreless innings by retiring 9 of the next 10 hitters he faces.
Continues to be such a weird season. — Bob Wankel (@BobWankelCB) June 15, 2023
Redemption for all
Kyle Schwarber made up for his third inning misplay with an RBI double in the fourth that scored Garett Stubbs and tied the game. Bryce Harper then singled to left three batters later to score Turner who also singled in the inning to give the Phillies the 5-4 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Gregory Soto was first out of the bullpen and collected a huge strikeout to end the seventh before coming back out for the eighth. Soto allowed a single and then Stubbs made a fantastic play on a bunt to get the runner going to second for the first out of the inning. Rob Thomson then elected to bring in Seranthony Dominguez to face Christian Walker in an eerily similar situation to Wednesday night when Walker belted a three-run home run.
Dominguez rewarded his manager’s faith with two strikeouts to get out of a possible jam. He got Walker swinging with a 96 MPH fastball and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. swinging with a slider, the pitch that he surrendered the previous night’s home run on. Craig Kimbrel then slammed the door in the ninth despite three pitch clock violations.
The Phillies have now won 4 straight series and 10 of their last 12 games. They will look to keep it rolling against the A’s in Oakland Friday night.
Source: The Good Phight
