Never End(er)ing: Braves 5, Phillies 2

The early game went horribly. The late - well, 3:30 - game went poorly. It was a pretty frustrating day overall for the Phillies as they were swept in the traditional doubleheader against the Braves. They dropped the first game 9-1 and subsequently fell in the second game by a score of 5-2.

Prior to the game, Ricardo Pinto was added as the 26th man.

Ender Inciarte was virtually an impossible out in both games today. He went a combined 8 for 10 with seven singles, a triple, walk, and strikeout.

Mark Leiter started and pitched well once again for the short-armed Phillies. They lost Jerad Eickhoff due to nerve irritation in the first game, which obviously sucks. Leiter has been pretty good in the long relief role this season and has since been added to the rotation as the injury bug continues to knock away at the Phils starting staff.

Leiter started out wobbly, serving up a two-out RBI double to Matt Kemp in the first inning. Fast forward to the fourth inning when David Freitas picked up his first career major league hit - a double - and, in the process, drove in Dansby Swanson. Two batters later, Inciarte laced a single to center for his seventh hit of the day to drive in Freitas.

Take a step back to the 2nd inning when the Phillies tied up the game for a brief time on a Pedro Florimon RBI double that drove in Maikel Franco. The game was 1-1 at that point.

Then we have to head all the way to the 9th before any more scoring took place. The Braves tacked on two insurance runs with a Freddie Freeman double and a Swanson single to make the score 5-1. The Phils answered with one run in the 9th that came on an Andres Blanco sacrifice fly to right.

What’s a Phillies recap without a little Rhys Hoskins?

The nationally-praised rookie extended his hit streak to 12 games after picking up a hit in both the first and second games.

Nick Williams is also worthy of a mention. He made one helluva play in right field to rob Freitas of a base knock.

Oh yeah, Freddy Galvis also played center field in this game. My personal take on the whole ‘162’ thing is that Galvis, as long as he is healthy and not taking away valuable time from some prospects, should be given the chance to start and/or play in every game this season. He’s been a part of some really bad Phillies teams and should be given the opportunity. Discuss how you feel about that in the comments, if you wish.

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See you in Florida.