Phillies hitters shut down, defense struggles in loss to Giants

On a night when Phillies hitters were shut down by left-hander Robbie Ray and the Giants, Cristopher Sánchez struggled to limit hits and the defense faltered in a 6-0 loss. 

The Phillies’ lineup played Tuesday night somewhat short-staffed. With Alec Bohm sidelined, Edmundo Sosa filled in for him at third base, while Dylan Moore slotted into the order at second base. Meanwhile, J.T. Realmuto took a foul ball off his right foot while catching in the first inning. He left the game the following inning as Rafael Marchán hit in his place.

San Francisco took the lead early in the game. Willy Adames led off the first with a double, followed by a Matt Chapman single past the diving Bryce Harper that advanced him to third. Luis Arraez then dribbled a weak grounder up the first base line that Sánchez fielded for an out, but Adames scored on the play, putting the Giants up 1-0.

In the third, Adames again led off with a double, this time on a drive to deep center field that Justin Crawford couldn’t reach. Chapman singled to right, with the Giants third base coach sending Adames home on the play. But Adolis García threw a laser to Marchán, who successfully tagged Adames at the plate to momentarily keep the deficit at one. 

The Giants added to their lead in the fifth, however. Daniel Susac opened the inning with a single. Jared Oliva then hit a tailor-made double-play ball to shortstop, but Trea Turner booted the ball, allowing Oliva to reach and Susac to advance on the error. The Phillies got two outs on a smart Marchán throw behind the runner at first and a pop out to Moore. But Otto Kemp initially misread a Chapman line drive to left field that might have been the third out. Instead, the ball went over Kemp’s head for a double, scoring Susac. Arraez then singled up the middle to drive in Chapman from second, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead.

In the sixth, Rafael Devers singled, followed by a ground-rule double by Casey Schmitt to end Sánchez’s night. Against reliever Zach Pop, pinch-hitter Jung Hoo Lee hit a sac fly to extend the Giants lead to 4-0.     

Sánchez struggled to put away hitters at times throughout his start. Across five-plus innings, he allowed 11 hits and four runs, two of them earned, striking out six batters and walking none.

The Giants’ starter Ray, meanwhile, held Philadelphia’s hitters in check. Throwing 109 pitches, Ray pitched 6 ⅔ innings, allowing no runs on three hits, walking three and striking out seven. He left the game with two Phillies runners on base in the seventh, but right-handed reliever Ryan Walker induced a Crawford groundball back to the mound to escape the jam.

In a promising development, right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering made his season debut for the Phillies. In his first major league appearance since the 11th inning of Game 4 of last year’s NLDS, Kerkering worked around a Marchán throwing error and a walk before allowing a two-out, two-run triple to Susac, both runs unearned. The triple gave the Giants a 6-0 lead, four of those runs unearned due to Phillies misplays.  

The Phillies’ offense didn’t fare much better against the Giants bullpen. Two baserunners reached in the eighth but neither scored, and Phillies hitters went 1-2-3 in the ninth to seal the 6-0 loss.

The Phillies, now 6-5 this season, close out their West Coast road trip on Wednesday afternoon. Aaron Nola gets the ball for the Phillies in the series rubber match, while right-hander Tyler Mahle pitches for San Francisco. First pitch is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. Eastern.