Before Yunior Marte collapsed, Aaron Nola toiled and the offense was unable to capitalize on RISP.
The Phillies lost 11-1 in Arizona, and Aaron Nola only lasted five innings despite the team going 0–8 with runners in scoring position. Nola gave up four runs and two home runs, although Philadelphia had plenty of chances to score but was unable to do so. In the seventh inning, the Diamondbacks completely overwhelmed Yunior Marte, putting the game out of reach. Jake McCarthy had four RBIs and two home runs at the end of the day.
Lost opportunities
The Phillies offense got off to a strong start as Alec Bohm reached on an error, Kyle Schwarber walked, and Bryce Harper singled infield, loading the bases with one out in the first inning. Nick Castellanos grounded out on the first pitch to eliminate the threat, but Brandon Marsh—who had hit.0 for his previous 15 at the game—struck out swinging.
The Phillies had another chance to score later in the third inning, this time with Marsh at the plate with first and third with two outs. But he would fly out to conclude the inning, making five runners abandoned for Philadelphia after three innings.
Finally, a run was scored by the Phillies in the fifth inning. Trea Turner doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no outs after Schwarber again led off with a walk. Harper brought Schwarber home and grounded out to bring Turner, who was the tying run at the time, to third.
After Arizona’s starting quarterback Zac Gallen was hurt during the play, Kevin Ginkel, an old rival, took his place. With less than two outs and a chance to bring the ball home from third base, Bohm again struck out swinging against Ginkel. After a walk by Marsh, Castellanos ended the inning with a first pitch line drive that was directly at the third baseman.
After that fifth inning, the Phillies were shut out for the remainder of the game by the Diamondbacks bullpen, who prevented them from getting anything going. In the ninth inning, Garrett Stubbs’ walk was their lone baserunner.
ice skating up a slope
Aaron Nola was unable to get off to a good start as Corbin Carroll lined out to Bryson Stott at a fastball speed of 111 mph, and then Ketel Marte launched a home run off Nola’s third deep pitch to right center, giving Arizona the lead. After that, Nola retired Joc Pederson, putting two on with two outs when Josh Bell hit and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. walked. But, Nola managed to avoid more harm by persuading Jake McCarthy to ground out to Stott.
The second inning didn’t start out any better for Nola, who gave up a leadoff single to Eugenio Suárez. Fortunately, Marsh in left field helped out by throwing out Suárez when he attempted to stretch the hit for a double.
However, Jose Herrera walked and Geraldo Perdomo hit a ground rule double to put two on with one out. Harper misplayed Turner’s throw to first, allowing Perdomo to score and increase the lead to 2-0. Caroll had grounded out to Turner and was likely to force a double play anyhow.
Nola followed with a two out walk to Marte before striking out Pederson to limit the damage despite already having thrown 45 pitches through two innings. He pitched his only clean inning in the third and allowed a pair of singles in the fourth, but they did not score.
Pederson led off the fifth with a single before Bell hit into a double play. Nola desperately needed a quick inning, but he then allowed a double to Gurriel and a home run to McCarthy that extended the Arizona lead to 4-1. Nola’s night was done after a strikeout of Suárez to end the fifth. His final line was 5 IP, 9 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts on 88 pitches.
White flag
Jose Ruiz pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts on in relief of Nola in the sixth before giving way to Yunior Marte who lasted just two outs. Arizona jumped all over Marte, as he allowed seven runs on six hits including two home runs. He exited with the score now 11-1 in a game that quickly turned into a blowout.
Positive aspect
In the eighth inning, Max Lazar made his Major League debut after replacing Marte. To halt the assault, he retired Kevin Newman on a fly out and proceeded to pitch a perfect eighth inning, striking out Pederson.
The game tomorrow
The Phillies, trailed by Cristopher Sánchez (8-7, 3.27), will attempt a four-game split. Meanwhile, Arizona will try to close the series deficit with Merrill Kelly (2-0, 2.19). The first pitch is set to go at 4:10 p.m.
