I mean, what else can you say?
The Phillies had an outstanding pitching performance by Jesus Luzardo go for naught since they came up against a buzzsaw in Cam Schlittler. Luzardo did all he could, going seven innings and allowing a single run in the form of a solo home run on a great piece of hitting by Paul Goldschmidt.
There wasn’t much else the lefty could do as Schlittler handcuffed the Phillies lineup all night long. Said lineup did not help much, swinging at pitches like they were being chased by bees, but that’s what a great pitcher like Schlittler will do. He’ll see that he can get the hitters to chase and he’ll keep going to the same well over and over.
As the lineup got more and more looks at him though, they started to actually hit him a little harder. They couldn’t do much with it until the eighth when they actually had their threat to score. With one out, J.T. Realmuto got his second hit on the night, then went to second when Gabriel Rincones was hit by a pitch. That sent Schlittler to the bench in favor of Brent Headrick, a move countered by Edmundo Sosa coming into the game. Sosa singled to right, which brings the biggest “What if?” moment into play.
Should Realmuto have been waved home?
Worst case is that he’s thrown out and they still have a fast runner in Derek Hill in scoring position with Trea Turner coming up and two outs. Anthony Morales, the third base coach, opted to hold Realmuto to load the bases and, well, we know what happened next. Turner hit a soft fly ball not deep enough to score Realmuto, then was followed by Kyle Schwarber grounding out to second to end the threat.
Pitcher’s duels are great when they go your way, but tonight did not for the Phillies. They’ll try again tomorrow night.
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