Before Friday’s game Trea Turner said there was ‘a lot of good and a lot of bad’ from the first half of the Phillies season prior to the All-Star break.
The same can be said of their first game after the break.
The Phillies squandered a 4-1 lead and lost 6-5 to the Angels. Their record dropped to 55-42 and they’ve now lost five of their last seven games. They maintained their half-game lead in the division thanks to the Mets’ loss to the Reds.
Friday’s setback represented a squandered opportunity, an uneven performance by the home team on a beautiful night for baseball in South Philadelphia.
First, the bad.
Tanner Banks surrendered a two-run home run by Taylor Ward in the seventh inning that broke a 4-4 tie and put the Angels ahead to stay. It was Ward’s 22nd home run of the season, a towering shot to left center field.
The bullpen was pressed into action early after Jesus Luzardo failed to make it out of the fifth inning. Luzardo allowed seven hits and four earned runs on 95 pitches. He served up a solo home run to Jorge Soler and a two-run homer to Jo Adell. Luzardo’s season ERA climbed to 4.29.
“Obviously, this loss is on me,” Luzardo said. “Just not being able to give length and kind of hurting the bullpen a little bit and taxing our team and our offense. Just got to do a better job than that. Our offense performed extremely well tonight, they played well enough for us to get a win… It’s extremely frustrating. Especially when the offense scores four runs for you early. You ask any starter in the league if the offense gives you four runs it should be a win no matter what.”
Luzardo’s June and July have been a struggle following a scorching first two months of the season during which he posted a 2.15 ERA in his first 11 starts.
“I thought early he was pretty good,” manager Rob Thomson said of Luzardo’s outing. “He was throwing strikes, he was attacking hitters. But as the game went on I thought he got behind in the count a little bit. They hit some good pitches too.”
The Angels’ three home runs upped their season total to 142, second most in the American League. “That’s what this team does,” Thomson said. “They hit homers. That’s how they generate runs. You got to keep the ball in the ballpark.”
Mike Trout, who entered Friday’s game with two hits in 20 career at-bats at Citizens Bank Park, got the best of Luzardo. Trout doubled and scored a run in the fourth inning…