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Getting beaten, and embarrassing themselves doing so, by the Rays isn’t something the Phillies should be especially upset at. Lots of teams are getting beaten by the Rays lately. It’s the games that they should win and get embarrassed doing so, the games where the team they are playing is also playing poorly with many offensive pieces sitting this one out, is where they should get upset.
Like today!
Coming into the game, they had to be feeling good about their chances. Vince Velasquez was on the mound and despite some luck on batted balls, he has been looking phenomenal. The offense would be taking their hacks against Wade Miley, he of the no-hitter this season, but one who hasn’t been especially good lately. The Reds’ lineup would be without Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas and would also be giving a rest to Jesse Winker, their All-Star candidate of the season. It would seem that this would be a game to get them going.
It was not.
The Phillies were never close. A four-run second inning by the Reds essentially ended the game. Velasquez would give up a two-run home run to Max Schrock and a two-run single to Tyler Naquin would give Cincinnati all they would need on the day, but they felt like it was hittin’ season. When the Phillies were able to scratch across a run in the third, the Reds came right back on another two-run home run by Kyle Farmer. The fifth saw an RBI triple by Schrock and an RBI single by Farmer. The carnage was over after the seventh when Farmer ended his big day with a two-run double and Shogo Akiyama grounded into a force out that plated the Reds’ eleventh and final run of the day.
If you wanted to tell your friends how today went in one simple sentence:
Chase Anderson AND David Hale pitched.
That should be all they needed to hear to know what the ultimate outcome was. The Phillies are now a season worse four games under .500 with no real hope right now of getting anywhere near even anytime soon. They’ll try again tomorrow in an increasingly rare night game in Cincinnati.