Phillies lose series finale against Cardinals, Marsh leaves in 8th inning with hamstring injury originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
Realistically, you’ll catch two out of three on any given day and consider that a successful streak.
The Phillies lost the series finale against the Cardinals in extra innings on Sunday night, 5-4. They are now 41-19 on the season. It’s the first time since April 27th that they don’t hold the most wins in MLB.
Big picture, a loss is not the end of the world. The concern shifts to Brandon Marsh, who abruptly exited the game in the eighth inning after rounding second base. He grabbed his leg and called the trainers immediately. Marsh was able to get out on his own.
While the Phillies managed to erase two two-run deficits, the feared ghost runner struck again.
With Gregory Soto on the mound, Nolan Gorman singled to score Masyn Winn. That was the game.
The first inning has not been kind to Taijuan Walker this season. Winn scored on the first pitch of the game and ended up coming back to bite Walker. Three hits later, Gorman hit a two-run home run to give the Cardinals an early lead.
Walker has allowed at least one run in the first inning in four of his seven starts.
“It’s just frustrating,” said the starter after the game. “Obviously, the team is playing really well right now and I just want to be a part of that and help the team. I’m just not doing my part right now.”
With Marsh on first with a leadoff walk in the second inning, Nick Castellanos hit on what is typically a routine double play ball. Cardinals shortstop Winn failed to transfer, but the force on Marsh was initially called. Phillies manager Rob Thomson challenged the call and replay revealed that Winn did not have possession of the ball when scoring second.
With two scored, Garrett Stubbs had his first double of the season to score Marsh. Stubbs has five hits in his last three starts.
Johan Rojas was eliminated by Winn, but scored Castellanos to temporarily tie the game.
And so, the Cardinals and Phillies traded two-run innings like a tennis match… and then it pinged back to the Cardinals.
Walker allowed another two-run home run. This time, he let one go over the plate to Alec Burleson, putting the Cardinals ahead once again. This marks Walker’s second game this season where he has allowed two home runs. He gave up eight in total.
Walker didn’t retire the team once in his five innings Sunday night.
Ping, back to the Phillies.
Let’s start an inning with back-to-back bunts, why not?
On the first two pitches of the fifth, Stubbs and Rojas struggled to get on base. The third pitch was scored by a Kyle Schwarber single, and very quickly, the Phillies had the bases loaded, with no one out and Bryson Stott on base.
Stott scored, both boys scored, and once again, things were all square. That was the end of the night for Cardinals starter Lance Lynn, who went just four innings. Two runs was all the Phillies could muster.
Arriving …
The Phillies have a headline-filled week ahead of them. They are scheduled to host the Brewers in the next three days, marking Rhys Hoskins’ first time back in Philadelphia since he signed with Milwaukee as a free agent.
The Brewers have not named their starting pitchers for the series, but expect Zack Wheeler (6-3, 2.32 ERA), Cristopher Sanchez (3-3, 2.83 ERA) and Aaron Nola (7-2, 3.03 ERA ) for the Phillies in that order.
Next up, the Phils head across the pond for a two-game slate against the Mets for the 2024 London Series. It will be the third time they face the Mets this year and they currently sit in the season series at 3-1.
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