Takeaways as Phillies' bullpen, baserunning fail them again originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
ATLANTA — The Phillies have found different ways to lose lately. Too many outs on the bases. Too many late leads slipping away. Too many chances to finish games that they haven’t finished.
Friday had all of it.
The Phillies led three different times from the ninth inning on, got go-ahead hits from Justin Crawford and Luis Arraez in extras and still walked off the field with a 6-5 loss to the Braves in 11 innings. The bullpen let them down again. So did the fundamentals.
And after another night where they had chances to put a game away and couldn’t, the Phillies are now five games back in the division.
What did we see from our end?
THE FUNDAMENTALS, AGAIN
The Phillies have spent the last week giving away outs and bases at exactly the wrong time. Friday brought another one.
Bryce Harper doubled to open the ninth with the Phillies still holding a one-run lead. Alec Bohm followed with a ground ball to the left side. Harper broke toward third, then stopped. He wound up caught in no man’s land between second and third and was tagged out.
Instead of having a runner in scoring position with one out and a chance to add insurance, the Phillies handed Atlanta an out.
It’s become too familiar lately. The Phillies have had baserunning mistakes pile up over the last week, part of a stretch in which their fundamentals have slipped as the games have only become more important.
Against a team chasing you in the standings, with a bullpen that has been shaky lately, those extra 90 feet and extra outs matter. They mattered Friday.
THREE CHANCES, NONE FINISHED
Jonathan Bowlan entered the ninth trying to protect the lead. He couldn’t.
Bowlan allowed the tying run, marking the fifth time in his last six outings that he has surrendered a run.
Then came extras.
Justin Crawford came off the bench in the 10th and attacked the first pitch he saw, ripping a go-ahead single to put the Phillies back in front, 4-3. Crawford entered the night batting .348 with runners in scoring position this season.
Another big spot. Another big swing from the rookie. And another lead the bullpen couldn’t hold.
Chase Shugart allowed the automatic runner to score in the bottom half, sending the game to the 11th.
The Phillies went back ahead again. Luis Arraez went the other way for an RBI single after Harper singled, Bryson Stott walked and Crawford grounded out.
A 5-4 lead. One more chance.
Shugart returned for the bottom of the 11th and recorded one out before Don Mattingly went to Brooks Raley. Raley got the second.
Then Ha-Seong Kim, batting .126, shot a two-out single through the left side to tie it. Drake Baldwin followed with a walk-off double.
Three different Phillies leads disappeared from the ninth inning on.
That’s the part that will stick. The bullpen has struggled lately to keep games where they belong. Friday was another one.
VINTAGE NOLA REMAINS
Aaron Nola did his part.
He gave the Phillies 6 1/3 innings of two-run baseball against a Braves lineup seeing him again just eight days after his best start of the season.
The familiarity didn’t hurt him.
Nola pitched to contact, leaned less on his four-seamer and turned more to his changeup, a pitch that has become increasingly effective for him.
Matt Olson’s first-inning homer hugged the foul pole. Austin Riley’s seventh-inning shot came on a sinker below the zone that he reached down and drove out.
Neither changed what Nola was able to do overall.
For the second straight start, he generated a chase rate of at least 45 percent. Both came against the Braves.
They’re the only two starts this season in which he’s reached that mark and the first time in his career he’s done it in consecutive outings.
BREAK THE DAM
The Phillies finally did some damage against Chris Sale.
Entering Friday, Sale had allowed three earned runs over 19 innings in three starts against Philadelphia this season. The Phillies matched that total in one inning.
With two outs in the second, Edmundo Sosa singled, Bryan De La Cruz worked a seven-pitch walk and J.T. Realmuto was hit by a pitch. Derek Hill followed by lining a three-run double into the left-center field gap.
It gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead and was the biggest swing they had produced against Sale all season.
It also continued a trend from their right-handed bench bats. Since Hill was acquired on June 11, Hill, Sosa and De La Cruz are batting .329/.368/.576 with runners in scoring position, with 11 extra-base hits and 50 RBI over 97 plate appearances.
The Phillies badly needed more production from that side after struggling so much against left-handed pitching early in the season. They got it Friday.
It just wasn’t enough.
The same issues that followed them through the homestand followed them to Atlanta. And after another game they had multiple chances to finish, the Phillies are now five games back in the division.