The Phillies sunk themselves tonight, as poor defense led to four errors against the Seattle Mariners. Aaron Nola had a decent outing despite allowing four earned runs over 5.1 innings, as the team’s defense completely dropped the ball. Nola himself committed a throwing error, along with an Alec Bohm fielding error, as well as two gaffs from Rhys Hoskins at first base.
Phillies fans will be quick to blame first base umpire Brian Knight for calling Mariners second baseman Adam Frazier safe on a controversial non-interference play, but the truth is the Phillies let this game get away from them either way. It’s tough to stop a team from scoring when they’re given four more than three outs in an inning, and the Phillies’ errors gave the Mariners that advantage four times tonight.
On the bright side, the bullpen was rock solid tonight, as Brad Hand, Jeurys Familia and Andrew Bellatti combined for 2.2 scoreless innings, while striking out four Mariners. Hand and Familia made things a bit interesting when they both allowed two batters to reach base each, but both hurlers were able to work their way out of their self-imposed jams. Familia was downright dominant, fanning two in a perfect inning of work.
Despite his own throwing error putting him in an early hole, Aaron Nola performed admirably tonight, as he limited the Mariners to four earned runs on nine hits and a walk. Nola was able to work around a tremendous amount of traffic, and pitched better than his overall line indicates.
The Phillies are woefully short on starting pitching depth this week, as both Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin were placed on the COVID-19 Injured List on Sunday. The Phils will look to get back on track tomorrow afternoon in Seattle, as Bailey Falter makes a spot start opposite Mariners phenom Logan Gilbert.