PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies on Friday night were on the losing end of a duel between two All-Star pitchers.
Jesús Luzardo, who pitched in his first All-Star Game last week at Citizens Bank Park, allowed only one run on a home run from Paul Goldschmidt across seven innings in a 1-0 Phillies loss. It’s the eighth Phillies shutout loss of the season and second 1-0 loss of the year. The two teams combined for 25 strikeouts in the game.
The Phillies are 56-48 and hold the second wild card spot in the National League, though the Arizona Diamondbacks are just one game behind Philadelphia and hold the tiebreaker. The Phillies are now 5.5-games back of the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East.
“I think we’re just a little inconsistent right now throughout the lineup,” J.T. Realmuto said postgame. “Not scoring enough runs, quite frankly. And our defense has scuffled a little bit, I think. … We feel good about our team. We’re just not playing our best baseball right now.”
The Yankees’ Cam Schlittler was as good as advertsied. The AL Cy Young candidate struck out 12 and allowed no runs in 7 1/3 innings. His ERA on the season is down to 2.07.
It’s the first time the Phillies have lost a Luzardo start since May 19. The Phillies began the season losing four of Luzardo’s first five starts. Since then, the Phillies have won 13 of Luzardo’s last 16 starts. Before tonight, the Phillies were winners of 10-in-a-row with Luzardo on the mound.
He did his part, but the Phillies lineup didn’t get much going against the Yankees’ top arm. The only hits against Schlittler were a double by Kyle Schwarber in the fourth and a pair of singles from Realmuto.
They were able to get some traffic against Schlittler to knock him out of the game in the eighth. With two on, interim manager Don Mattingly used Edmundo Sosa as a pinch hitter for No. 9 hitter Justin Crawford. Derek Hill pinch ran for Gabriel Rincones Jr. at first.
“Just really wanted speed at first to try to be able to score on a ball in the corner or a ball in the gap,” Mattingly said postgame. “Didn’t really think we were going to need another pinch hitter at that point, where we’re at in the order.”
Sosa came through with a pinch-hit single to load the bases as the ball was hit too hard to right for Realmuto to score from second. Trea Turner worked out a nine-pitch at-bat against left-handed reliever Brent Headrick, but was unable to hit a fly ball deep enough to tie the game. Kyle Schwarber grounded out to second to end the threat with the bases loaded.
Brandon Marsh may have had extra bases in the ninth inning, but left fielder Cody Bellinger made a great catch over his head just in front of the wall. Alec Bohm grounded out against Yankees closer David Bednar to end the game.
There was plenty of navy blue in the crowd on Friday night at CBP. The Yankees come to Philadelphia once every two years thanks to MLB’s balanced schedule. The 50-50 split between Phillies and Yankees fans made for an intense atmosphere.
“It felt like another night at CBP,” Luzardo said postgame. “I think our fans do a great job of bringing the energy every night. Obviously, they have a great team (over) there. They’re a little close, so they brought their fans and it was a fun atmosphere.”
But it could be another miserable weekend at the ballpark if the Bronx takeover results in another series loss. The Phillies so far are 2-5 to begin the second half.
They will bullpen their way through Saturday’s game. Brian Keller will be activated tomorrow ahead of his major league debut. He could start or throw behind an opener as a bulk reliever. The Phillies will face another lefty starter in Ryan Weathers.
