Offense stalls (again) as Phillies fall in another series loss to Braves originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
ATLANTA — You never know what the curtain call of a complete game will look like.
After he went the distance his first time this season against the Marlins, Cristopher Sanchez followed it up by allowing seven runs on seven hits in just four innings against the Cubs.
Thursday evening at Truist Park, after another nine-inning outing against the Nationals, Sanchez was … solid.
But solid wasn’t enough for the Phillies as they dropped the series finale to the Braves, 3-2. In this tennis match of a series, the division lead once again dropped back to six games.
Through his six innings, Sanchez allowed three runs on nine hits and struck out eight. It’s the third-most strikeouts he’s collected in a single game this season.
The home run he gave up to Adam Duvall on a 2-0 sinker in the sixth was the first time all season Sanchez allowed a home run in consecutive starts.
In Sanchez’s defense, the offense wasn’t much help. Bryce Harper had the only hit for the Phillies through six innings, which came in his first plate appearance.
The offensive struggles were severe top to bottom in the three-game showing — the biggest eyesore on the scorecard being a whopping 32 strikeouts (Game 1: 13, Game 2: five, Game 3: 14). They chased often, got behind in the count far too frequently and they paid the price.
“There’s a lot of positives in there but when you’re not winning, it’s hard to look at that,” Trea Turner said postgame. “You hit some balls hard but they don’t fall, and then you press a little bit or you try to change some things and it doesn’t work out.
“Just gotta get it rolling. I think all of us in general, it’s kind of weird that we’re all struggling at the same time. Normally when you have a good lineup, some guys or here but it’s kind of weird that a lot of us are there.”
Kyle Schwarber started the night off with his 89th walk of the season and MLB-leading 35th in the leadoff spot. Harper snapped his 0-for-17 streak with a single and Nick Castellanos grounded into a force out, where Turner was able to score.
Weston Wilson, who earned another start due to the success of his recent plate appearances, had a rough night trying to hold down the fort at third base. After Alec Bohm’s on-base streak ended yesterday at 36 games, manager Rob Thomson gave him a day off.
“I’ve been wanting to give him a day,” Thomson said pregame. “Because of the…