Four-Oh Canada: Blue Jays 4, Phillies 0

The Good

Things started out a little dicey for Aaron Nola. In the first inning, he allowed a solo home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a walk to Teoscar Hernández. In the second, he allowed a single to Cavan Biggio, an RBI double to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and an RBI single to Reese McGuire. The Phillies were down 3-0 going into the third, and it looked like this was going to be a second straight mediocre start for Nola.

But from that point on, it ended up being one of Nola’s better starts of the season. He ended the day with a perfectly respectable line: 6.2 IP, 8 K, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 HR. He pitched more than six innings for just the fourth time in nine starts this year. His K/BB was 8.00, and the only time this year that he recorded a better K/BB was during his complete-game shutout. He recorded 17 swings-and-misses, the most since his complete game.

Our ace wasn’t perfect, but he deserved to win tonight.

The Bad

The Phillies were able to put a man on base in every inning, but they rarely managed to get multiple base runners in the same inning. Even worse, they only got three runners to second base all game.

Of the three runners to reach second, two of them made it there on doubles. In other words, the Phillies only advanced one base runner from first base into scoring position all night. One of the main reasons behind this was that the Phillies struck out fourteen times in the game. That’s not good if you’re trying to score runs.

The one bright spot on offense was Rhys Hoskins, who looks like he’s finally busting out of his most recent slump. He was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk, bringing his OPS back up above .800 for the first time in a while. This comes after a great game on Friday as well, when he went 3-for-5 with a run scored and three RBIs.

The Ugly

Once again, the Phillies made numerous defense misplays – at least four, by my count. Alec Bohm made a couple of bad plays at third, once again demonstrating that he just doesn’t have the body type to play third no matter how hard he tries.

Nick Maton also made a pretty terrible play, that ultimately allowed a run to score.

I was watching the Blue Jays broadcast, and I almost spit my drink out when Blue Jays play-by-play announcer Buck Martinez said that the Phillies had one of the best defenses in the NL. Apparently, he thought this because the Phillies have the second-best fielding percentage in the league, which just goes to show you how useless of a statistic fielding percentage is.

The Really Ugly