Fundamentals fail Phillies as they drop series to Padres

By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Final: San Diego Padres 9, Philadelphia Phillies 3 ❖ Attendance: 26,930

SAN DIEGO, Ca. — The Philadelphia Phillies (65-52) capped off their six-game road trip with a painful loss to the San Diego Padres (48-72). The Phils had their fair share of difficulties during their visit to the west coast, losing two of three games to both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Padres and scoring a total of 15 runs over those six games. Today's Phillies starter, Jake Arrieta, didn't look like himself on the mound. Over five innings, the righty allowed five runs on eight hits, while walking two and striking out four. It didn't help Arrieta or the four relievers that also pitched today that the defense was not up to par. Although the box score only says two errors, there were several instances where the official scorers were a bit too kind and gave the opponent a hit instead of an error for the Phils. The Padres also stole six bases in this game alone, including four by one player. This cannot continue to occur.

There were few positives on the offensive front. Until the eighth inning, it looked like the Phillies would go down without any kind of fight. Nick Williams and Carlos Santana both recorded RBI doubles. Maikel Franco notched two hits. Cesar Hernandez extended his hitting streak to six games with his first inning single. Justin Bour got his first hit in a Phillies uniform: a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning. Hopefully, his bat can help reignite the fire under the offense.

WP: Joey Lucchesi (6-6, 3.45 ERA) ❖ LP: Jake Arrieta (9-7, 3.33 ERA)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
PHI	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	6	2
SD	1	0	4	0	0	0	1	3	0	9	9	2

The Padres scored first in today's ballgame. Travis Jankowski got it started with a leadoff single. During the at-bat of Eric Hosmer, Jankowski stole second base. Hosmer singled to left field, allowing Jankowski to move up to third. This put runners on first and third with no outs for Hunter Renfroe. He grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Jankowski was able to score to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. The Phillies were willing to exchange a run for two outs so early in the ballgame. Phils starter Jake Arrieta was able to get Franmil Reyes to ground out to first to end the inning.

The Padres added on to their lead in a big way in the third. Jankowski once again got the metaphorical ball rolling with a leadoff single. He once again stole second during Hosmer's at-bat. Hosmer finished the repeat sequence with another single of his own. Arrieta was able to retire the next two batters on a line-out and a pop-out, respectively, and it looked like he would be able to get out of a jam for the second straight inning. However, that was not the case. Austin Hedges walked to load the bases for former Phillie Freddy Galvis. The shortstop hit his first Major League grand slam to one of the deepest parts of the ballpark to give the Padres a 5-0 lead. Christian Villanueva struck out for the third and final out.

The Padres tacked on another run in the seventh. Yet again, Jankowski was the one sparking the Padres' offense. He reached on a lead-off walk. During Hosmer's at-bat, he once again stole second. Hosmer was retired on a pop-out for the first out of the frame. During Renfroe's at-bat, Jankowski stole third base. Renfroe reached on a fielder's choice. He hit a ball to Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco, who then attempted to get Jankowski at the plate. The throw sailed past catcher Jorge Alfaro and Jankowski was safe. Renfroe ended up on second base while the commotion was happening at the plate. Manuel Margot and Hedges were both retired on groundouts to third base to end the inning and prevent even more damage.

The Phillies got on the board in the eighth. With one out, pinch-hitter Andrew Knapp walked. Cesar Hernandez followed with a walk of his own to put runners on first and second. The Padres then opted to replace reliever Jose Castillo with fellow bullpen member Phil Maton. Phils left fielder Rhys Hoskins grounded into a force out, with Hernandez being retired at second. A wild throw past first base allowed Hoskins to reach safely and Knapp to score. When the confusion subsided, there was a runner on first with two outs. Nick Williams doubled to right field. A fielding error by Jankowski allowed Williams to advance to third. Hoskins scored on the play to make it a 6-2 game. Carlos Santana also doubled, easily scoring Williams from third. Unfortunately, he was stranded, as Asdrubal Cabrera struck out for the third out.

The Padres got all three of those runs back in their half of the eighth. Galvis led off the inning with a single. He stole second during the at-bat of Villanueva. The latter ended up walking to put runners on first and second with no outs. Cory Spangenberg hit a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over. However, Phils reliever Austin Davis wasn't able to take advantage of the out being handed to him and threw the ball away from first. Galvis was able to score on the play, while Villanueva and Spangenberg moved up to third and second, respectively. Pinch-hitter A.J. Ellis hit a sacrifice fly to score Villanueva from third to make it a 8-3 ballgame. The Phillies then opted to make a pitching change, removing the struggling Davis in favor of Aaron Loup. During the at-bat of Jankowski, Spangenberg stole third base. Jankowski walked to put runners on first and third with one out. Hosmer grounded out to first base for the second out. However, Spangenberg easily scored from third and Jankowski moved up to second on the play. Renfroe lined out for the final out of the inning, but it was too late. The deficit was too big for the struggling Phillies offense to overcome with only three outs to work with in the top of the ninth.

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