Phillies Offense Stays Hot in a Competitive Series Win Over the Athletics
The Philadelphia Phillies continued their road trip over the weekend with a three-game series against the Athletics. Before the three games in Sacramento, the Phillies came up with a six-game winning streak and looked to extend their winning streak to possibly double-digit games. In the series with the Athletics, both teams had extremely competitive games, where two out of the three games were decided by one run, and the other went into extra innings. The Phillies ended up winning the first two games of the series before dropping the final game by a score of 5-4. The Phillies overall played well and extended their winning streak up to nine at one point before dropping the final game. The series as a whole gave Phillies fans a lot of positives to look at, but also some negatives as the team heads towards the middle part of the season.
The Bullpen Needs to Be Upgraded at Some Point During the Season
The Phillies' bullpen has been up and down all season in terms of trust levels from the fans, but also from the manager. Earlier this year, the Phillies had the worst bullpen in the MLB, with six blown saves at the time in only 22 games. Miraculously, the unit completely switched their performance from the season and was dominant throughout May. Out of nowhere, the group lost their best reliever, Jose Alvarado, who was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a PED. Up to this series, the group had performed well, but fell apart late in this series. In the first game, Jordan Romano gave up a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to force a 4-3 score and nearly blew the game for the Phillies. In the second game, it was multiple pitchers who struggled in a chaotic game that got sent to extra innings. In the final game, it was Matt Strahm who blew the game for the Phillies and gave them their sole loss of the series. The loss of Alvarado has been a huge blow for the Phillies and has shaken the entire team. The team will need to look to upgrade if they want more players they can trust, but more importantly, reach their goal of the World Series.
Clutch Hitting Late Helps Phillies Prevail Late in Games
As stated earlier, this series brought a lot of crazy moments for both teams in particularly during the second game of the series. The game went into extra innings, and the Phillies were down in the bottom of the ninth and tied throughout extra innings. In the bottom of the ninth inning, it was Max Kepler who came through to push the game into extra innings for the Phillies with a home run. In extra innings, it was the man that the Phillies have relied on all season who came through in the clutch, that being Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber hit a triple that scored two runners to push the score to 8-6. Following that, it was Nick Castellanos who drove Schwabrer in with a sacrifice fly to push the score to 9-6, and that was enough for the Phillies to hold on for the win. The Phillies' offense came in clutch throughout the entire series whenever there was a deficit or to push them out to a lead late. Having confidence in the team's stars to perform late will be huge heading towards the middle of the season.
Phillies Stars Continue to Shine Throughout the Season
The Phillies are a team that is loaded with stars all around the diamond and on the mound with their starting pitching. In the series, it was their stars who excelled and ended up getting them the win or putting them in a position to win. It was Zack Wheeler who got the start in the first game of the series and threw an amazing game. Wheeler went 6.2 innings in his start, where he gave up no runs and struck out eight. In the final game of the series, it was Jesus Luzardo who struggled at first but bounced back to go seven innings and strike out 10 batters. Offensively, as mentioned earlier, it has been Schwarber who has been on a mission this entire season. Outside of Schwarber, it was Trea Turner and Bryce Harper who came to play. Turner, this series had two home runs and five RBIs across the three games to help the Phillies win. Harper, on the other hand, has been picking up his game since cutting his hair and has raised his batting average to .267 on the year. The Phillies will hope to ride their stars to the Fall Classic and compete in the World Series.
