Missed pop up, bullpen woes cost Phillies in topsy-turvy, 10-9 loss to Baltimore

Phillies third baseman Jean Segura, left, can’t catch a pop fly hit by Baltimore’s Pedro Severino during the ninth inning on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. It went for a two-run single as the Orioles scored three in the ninth before winning, 10-9, in 10 innings.

Phillies third baseman Jean Segura, left, can’t catch a pop fly hit by Baltimore’s Pedro Severino during the ninth inning on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. It went for a two-run single as the Orioles scored three in the ninth before winning, 10-9, in 10 innings.

PHILADELPHIA — It’s game 12 of a 60-game season, and already the Phillies are plumbing the depths of awful ways to lose games. They used about eight of them Tuesday night.

The entries to the Phillies forgettable annals: A two-run infield single when Jean Segura called, then failed to catch, a pop up near the mound with the bases loaded in the ninth. Then, after a second valiant comeback, a diving Roman Quinn ole-d a liner by Austin Hays, turning it into a two-run, inside-the-park homer in the 10th, the decisive blow in a 10-9 Phillies loss – and enough to beat back a third comeback effort in the top of the 10th.

First, the mistake that defined the game’s general terribleness. Hector Neris, supposedly the only safe harbor in the Phillies’ stormy bullpen, wasn’t sharp in the ninth with a 6-5 lead. Renato Nunez tied the game with a single, and the Orioles loaded the bases with one out.

Neris got a strikeout, then Pedro Severino popped up to the right of the pitcher’s mound. Rhys Hoskins called for it, then Segura, running in from third, out-screamed him, stumbled over the mound and flailed at the ball as it fell in the space the acquiescent Hoskins had just occupied. Two runs scored, making it 8-6.

“I think that’s probably the inexperience of Jean being at third and used to being a shortstop and taking charge,” manager Joe Girardi said. “And it hurt us tonight.”

“I’d heard something from the right side of the infield,” Hoskins said. “In a typical pop up priority, those guys typically have it over the first baseman. But I just need to be louder. I called it early. I called it maybe a little too early. I don’t think there’s any miscue if I end up calling it again or maybe call it at a later time and who knows what happens after that.”

After the Phillies tied the game again in the bottom of the ninth, Deolis Guerra needed only five pitches in the 10th, with a runner starting on second base, to give up runs. Hays smacked a sinking liner to center that Quinn sold out – and lost – on, a game that Girardi said the exuberant and speedy center fielder has to keep in front of him to limit it to one run. It was the Phillies’ first extra-inning game this season, which starts with a runner on second base.

It took pitchers 13 and 14 of the game, finally ending with Travis Lakins getting Hoskins to ground out with two on, to end the misery. A single by Jay Bruce had scored Segura, who started the 10th at second, to make it 10-9.

The Phillies had twice, almost three times, fought back valiantly. In the eighth, down 5-3, Bryce Harper worked a seven-pitch at-bat against flame-throwing Miguel Castro, finally cajoling a 91-mile-per-hour changeup out of the park the opposite way for a two-run homer to tie it at 5. Segura followed with a solo job off Castro, who had allowed just four hits and no runs in 7.1 innings. He allowed four hits and three earned runs Tuesday.

In the ninth, they again overturned a two-run deficit. Hoskins started it with a two-out single. With the bases loaded, Didi Gregorius fought back from a 1-2 count to rope a two-run single to center and send the game to extras.

“That we kept coming back and we weren’t able to close out the deal is the most disappointing,” Girardi said. “We had our chances, and we made some mistakes that really cost us. I think our guys did a great job offensively battling back, battling back. Unfortunately we were one hit short. What’s frustrating, that’s a game that I thought, in a lot of ways that, we gave it away.”

Before that, Tommy Hunter and his non-sinking sinker was on the hook. He entered a 3-3 game in the seventh and promptly allowed a single, an RBI double to Hanser Alberto and an Anthony Santander RBI single. The only reprieve came thanks to a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play. Another caught-stealing, pinch-runner Andrew Velazquez cut down trying to swipe home in the eighth by Jose Alvarez, kept the Phillies close.

The Phillies led 3-0 thanks to smart base-running in the third, when Bruce and Adam Haseley, the latter from first on a hit-and-run, scored on an Andrew McCutchen single. Bruce added a solo homer in the fifth. Things came unraveled in the sixth when Zack Wheeler, to that point excellent, faltered. He allowed three straight hits, including an RBI double by Rio Ruiz, then Dwight Smith Jr. singled to tie the game. Adam Morgan struck out Chris Davis to end the threat.

Speaking of bullpen woes: Nick Pivetta won’t provide them for at least a couple of days. The righty was demoted to the Lehigh Valley satellite camp a day after he did his best to make a 12-run game interesting by allowing six runs in the ninth Monday.

Joe Girardi empathized with Pivetta, who’d competed for a spot in the rotation during the summer-spring training and hasn’t been accustomed to bullpen readiness. His above-average stuff hasn’t translated to the bullpen: Pivetta has a 6.32 ERA in 21 relief appearances.

“Of course he’s disappointed. Who isn’t?,” Girardi said. “I think anyone who’s ever sat in that chair and gets the news that you’re going down, it hurts. But it’s what you do after that initial hurt that you have that’s really important. And we need Nick to go and get after it and pitch like he’s capable of.”

Pivetta’s demotion was accompanied by two players designated for assignment: Trevor Kelley, who allowed eight hits (two homers) and four runs in 3.1 innings, and outfielder Nick Williams.

Next up in the bullpen sweepstakes is Blake Parker, who had a 5.04 ERA in 25 innings last year after being acquired from Minnesota. The 35-year-old righty is a seven-year vet; that he couldn’t crack this juggernaut of a bullpen earlier is perhaps cause for concern.

Connor Brogdon, 25, started last season in Clearwater but posted a 2.61 ERA across 76 innings at three levels. The 6-6, 205-pound righty was a 10th-round pick in 2017 out of Lewis-Clark State College.

Matthew DeGeorge is the assistant sports editor of the Delaware County Daily Times. He covers the Philadelphia Union as well as high school sports.

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SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com