The old saying is two out of three ain’t bad. The problem is when a sweep was in hand, and it was fumbled by poor play and questionable base running decisions. That third loss becomes pretty bad. The Philadelphia Phillies take on the Cincinnati Reds for the first taste of baseball at Citizens Bank Park since the 2022 post-season run. Phillies blow a chance at the sweep against the Reds.
The Home Opener
Thursday’s game was pushed back to “inclement” weather that never happened during game time. Zack Wheeler started Friday’s game for the Phillies, and Hunter Green for the Reds. The two starting pitchers both have lively arms and very good control. Unfortunately for Hunter Green, he started to lose his control early, while Zack Wheeler was able to maintain his control
throughout the five innings.
Here is how the scoring started. Bottom of the 2nd, Brandon Marsh walked to allow Nick Castellanos to score from third on a Bases Loaded walk. The Phillies are up 1-0. Top of the 5th, Jose Barrero singles, and center Spencer Steers scored to tie the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the fifth, Kyle Schwarber doubles to right, and Trey Turner scores to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. At the top of the sixth, Tyler Stevenson doubled to deep left-center field to allow Tj Friedl to score to tie the game again at 2-2.
That brings us to the bottom of the seventh. JT Realmuto homers to deep left field, scoring him and Trea Turner and giving the Phillies a 4-2 lead. Bottom of the 8th, Edmundo Sosa Homers to left center field to give the Phillies a 5-2 lead. Craig Kimbrel, with some close calls, comes in and shuts the door in the 9th to give the Phillies the 5-2 win. This would be the second win of the year for the Phillies.
- Win: Gregory Soto
- Loss: Derek Law
- Save: Craig Kimbrel
Saturday’s Game
Saturday’s game featured Reds starting flamethrower Nick Lodolo and Phillies’ stopper Bailey Falter. Nick Lodolo had a very good game going seven innings striking out 12, and only giving up three hits on Saturday’s performance. Bailey Falter had a rough start to the game on Saturday, giving up four hits to the first seven batters that he faced. After that, Bailey went on to retire the next 12 batters in a row.
In the bottom of the first inning, Spencer Steer hit a home run to deep center field to give the Reds an early 1-0 lead. It was quiet from a scoring standpoint until the top of the 9th. Jake Fraley hits a sacrifice fly, and Kevin Newman scores to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.
The 2-0 score would hold up until the bottom of the 9th inning when Nick Castellanos led off the 9th inning with a walk. Following Castellanos would be Alec Bohm, who would single, and Castellanos would advance from 1st to 3rd with no one out. One of the most underrated things to happen in this game was the way Nick Castellanos was able to distract the Reds reliever while on third base while “dancing” down the line.
Brandon Marsh would single to right Alec Bohm to third. Nick Castellanos would score the game was now 2-1 in favor of the Reds. Edmundo Sosa would hit a sacrifice fly, and Alec Bohm would score to tie the game at 2. The hero of game two would be Bryson Scott. Stott would single to right-center. Brandon Marsh would come all the way around to score. The Phillies would walk off with a 3-2 victory.
- Win: Andrew Vasquez
- Loss: Alexis Diaz
Sunday’s Fiasco
The pitching matchup for Sunday afternoon put Connor Overton against Taiwan Walker. Overton pitched four innings giving up six hits, four earned runs, and four strikeouts. Taiwan Walker pitched 4 and 2/3 innings giving up three hits and two earned runs, and had five strikeouts.
To the action. In the bottom of the 1st, Kyle Schwarber starts off with a single. Then Nick Castellanos doubles to drive in Kyle. Phillies take a 1-0 lead. What made this interesting is both Schwarber and Castellanos both ignored third base coach Dusty Wathan. If Kyle were not pegged in the shoulder, he would have been out at home. For some reason, Nick thought he could sneak in at the plate and was thrown out.
Phillies Blow a Chance at the Sweep
This is the part that would have ruined your Easter Sunday. In the top of the 9th inning, Jake Fraley doubles to right and TJ Friedl scores. Jonathan India scored, and Stewart Fairchild scored to give the Reds a 6 to 4 lead. Ian Gibaut comes in and shuts the door on the phillies as the Reds win 6-4. Phillies blow a chance at the sweep against the Reds.
- Win: Kevin Herget
- Loss: Seranthony Dominquez
- Save: Ian Gibaut
Mike Lauro is half of the PM in the AM on Sunday morning show at 9 AM. Mike lives and breathes Philly sports. He covers 4 for 4 Philly sports as well as college football. He is a talented professional wrestler.
