A bad brand of baseball: Guardians 6, Phillies 5

Remember when the Phillies took three of four from the Padres coming out of the All-Star break, and we thought they were headed in the right direction.

Having lost their previous two games, on Friday night, the Phillies seemed determined to extend that streak to three. Did they give up several infield hits, at least a couple of which probably should have been outs? Yes. Did a run score because of multiple wild pitches in one at bat? Yes. Did they give up two out RBIs? Yes. Did they have a runner thrown out at home? Yes. Did they leave an almost inconceivable number of runners on base? Oh yes.

All of those gaffes resulted in a 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians that absolutely could have been avoided.

As they’ve done too often lately, the Phillies fell behind early. Three infield singles combined with a double by Josh Bell gave the Guardians a 2-0 lead after one inning.

The Phillies responded by loading the bases in the top of the second, but the scoring opportunity went unfulfilled when Jake Cave popped out on a pitch that only vaguely resembled a strike.

The Phillies did manage to score in the second when Trea Turner took a break from an otherwise lousy game with a leadoff triple. Nick Castellanos scored him with a groundout, but they’d leave another runner on base after that.

The problems got worse. With one out in the fourth, Alec Bohm got thrown out at the plate on a questionable send.

Kyle Schwarber followed with a walk to load the bases, and with two outs, Turner did hit the ball hard. Unfortunately, it was hit at a fielder, and the Phillies once again came away empty.

The Guardians weren’t having the same difficulties in scoring runs. They added a run in the fourth thanks to Steven Kwan’s two out single, and then another in the fifth thanks in part to two wild pitches by Ranger Suarez. (It was a strange night for Suarez. He didn’t give up a lot of hard-hit balls, but he pitched just well enough to lose.)

In the sixth, the Phillies once again loaded the bases, and thanks to a Kyle Schwarber walk, they actually scored a run! Any sense of excitement was lost when Turner followed with a strikeout and Nick Castellanos flied out.

The Guardians added two runs against the Phillies bullpen, and it felt like the game was out of reach. But just to rub it in our faces about how costly the earlier missed opportunities were, the Phillies finally displayed some power when J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run home run, and Bryson Stott followed with a solo shot of his own.

That was the last runner the Phillies would get on base. The last nine batters went down in order, and the Phillies were left with one of the more frustrating losses of the season.

The teams will be back at it tomorrow as the Phillies try to end their losing streak at three. If they’re serious about doing so, I would suggest they play solid, mistake-free baseball, something that haven’t done very much of this week.