The Luis Garcia Experience: Braves 4, Phillies 2

The title of this recap isn’t entirely fair to Luis Garcia. He’s appeared in 63 games this season, and including tonight’s game, he’s allowed multiple runs in just five of them. Unfortunately, that means that he allowed multiple runs in tonight’s game, and there just wasn’t room for that. The Phillies lost 4-2 to the Braves, and it sucked.

There just isn’t anyone else on the pitching staff to pin the loss on. Henderson Alvarez went five innings and gave up no runs, and while Kevin Siegrist allowed a homer, that didn’t lose the game. Garcia gave up three runs in the eighth, and with just three more outs left for the Phillies to play with, they just couldn’t come back.

Of course, when the Phillies are on the losing end of a 4-2 score, it’s hugely unfair to place the balance of the loss on the pitching staff. The offense just couldn’t get much across the plate against Julio Teheran. One run scored on a Rhys Hoskins double, and the other scored on a passed ball — all credit goes to Maikel Franco on that one, he saw his chance and took it.

There isn’t much more to say than that. The Phillies had a small lead but lost it late, and if they’d scored more runs they wouldn’t have.

The Phillies have just one more game to play against the Braves in 2017. They need to win, because getting swept by the Braves is just unacceptable.