Alvarado is wilder than ever as Phillies leave London with a loss originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
LONDON — Just when it looked like David Dahl would be the hero for the second time in his first week back in the majors, a one-run lead turned into a 6-5 loss, with Jose Alvarado unable to find the plate in the Phillies’ final entry into London.
Alvarado was as wild as he had been in years. He allowed two singles, two walks, a hit hit and a wild pitch to score runs. Instead of a sweep, the Phillies split.
Alvarado had walked multiple batters just once in his previous 28 starts. He achieved a 1.40 ERA in that span. He just didn’t have it on Sunday afternoon.
The Phillies are 45-20 — a 112-win pace — as they head to Boston to continue their three-city road trip.
Alvarado wasn’t the Phillies’ only erratic lefty on Sunday. Gregory Soto relieved Taijuan Walker with two hits, two outs and the Phillies were up by three in the sixth inning. Both inherited runners scored and he was charged with another to allow the Mets to tie the game.
Soto failed to find consistency in 93 starts over two seasons with the Phillies, posting a 4.81 ERA.
Matt Strahm followed Soto with a scoreless inning and Jeff Hoffman got four strikeouts to get the ball to Alvarado. In the meantime, Dahl came off the bench to hit his second home run in six days. A former All-Star and first-round pick, Dahl has essentially paid for himself after signing a minor league contract in the first week of spring training.
Coach Rob Thomson’s decision to use Soto first instead of Strahm proved costly. Strahm has obviously been much more effective with 26 straight games without an earned run, although he wasn’t at his best Sunday either.
It was all there for the taking in the bottom of the ninth when the Phillies loaded the bases with one out after Alec Bohm walked out, but Nick Castellanos homered into a game-ending 2-3 double play with a one-foot lead. house sign.
If there was a silver lining to the defeat, it was Walker’s performance. It would have been a scoreless start if Soto could have taken the bottom of the sixth, and Walker mixed his pitches as well as he did in any game as a Phillie. He threw 17 sinkers, 16 four-seam fastballs, 15 splitters, 14 sliders, 14 curveballs and three cutters. He struck out six, five of them looking, and induced mostly weak contact.
The Phillies fly direct from London to Boston for a three-game series that begins Tuesday. When they land at Logan International Airport, they will have flown just under 19,000 miles in 18 days. It has been an arduous task.
Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Aaron Nola will face the Red Sox.
