PHILS WILL NEVER MAKE PLAYOFFS BY GIVING UP 25 RUNS IN 2 GAMES!
By Peter Marx
The Phillies got waxed again last night by the very average Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-3.
And it wasn’t even that close.
Zac Gallen is one of the best pitchers in MLB, so the three runs can be explained away.
Gallen stretched his scoreless streak to 34 1/3 innings with another dominating performance, Jake McCarthy homered and had five RBI, and the Diamondbacks blasted away.
So, the Phils have given up 25 runs in two games!
With Aaron Nola pitching his worst game of the season, you have to wonder if he is replicating his 2021 meltdown after seeming like a front-line starter all season.
True, Zack Wheeler will be back soon and Zach Eflin may be too, along with ace closer Seranthony Dominguez.
But September starts tomorrow, and unless the Phils pitching improves you have to wonder if making the playoffs is even worth it.
Gallen (10-2) had the Phillies off-balance all night, allowing two hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings.
The Diamondbacks set two team records in the series opener Monday night, scoring six runs in consecutive innings to overcome a 7-0 deficit and beat the Phillies 13-7.
Arizona rewarded manager Torey Lovullo with a contract extension through 2023 on Tuesday and kept hitting.
The Diamondbacks knocked Aaron Nola (9-11) for five runs in the second inning and McCarthy put them up 8-0 with a towering, three-run homer in the fourth. Rookie Corbin Carroll added a two-run double in the eighth inning off infielder Nick Maton in his second big league game.
Arizona had a season-high 17 hits for its seventh straight win over the Phillies.
“The offense seemed to be clicking on all cylinders,” Lovullo said. “You bang out what 17 heads, just really quality approaches. Guys are patient, hunting for the pitch through the entire out bat that they want to drive. We’re using an all-field approach. It’s just this it came together very nicely today.”
Gallen has been dominant for the better part of two months and entered Tuesday’s game with the fifth-longest scoreless-innings streak in Diamondbacks’ history.
The right-hander moved up three places in one night with a mix of mid-90s fastballs and sharp-breaking curveballs. He is now behind only Brandon Webb’s 42-inning scoreless streak in 2007.
Gallen is 6-0 with a 0.72 ERA his last eight starts and has not lost since June 10. He has a career-high 146 strikeouts this season.
“He continues to stay locked in and just pound in the zone with with a really aggressive fastball,” Lovullo said “He started the land is curveball maybe from the second inning on and once he got that going and threw some cutters, he just became very dominant.”
Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer off Noé Ramirez in the eighth.
