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Not what you want to see hours after purchase at the trade deadline.
The Phillies hit a hit, played a shaky defense and received another uncompetitive start in the back of their rotation in a series opener loss to Pittsburgh. They were beaten 7-0 by a Pirates team who are 25 games under .500 and were outscored 34-4 this week.
Vince Velasquez started and pitched poorly for the fourth time in five starts this month. In three of the last four games, he’s pitched 2⅓ inning or less. He allowed PNC Park three runs in the first set and two in the second.
Velasquez just doesn’t keep the Phillies in games. He allowed 42 earned runs in his last 45 innings for an 8.40 ERA.
“Tonight was a team effort. It was the worst game we’ve played all year,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We haven’t done much tonight.
Baseball operations president Dave Dombrowski spoke about the Phillies’ pre-game trade deadline activity. When discussing the need for an established starting pitcher like Kyle Gibson, Dombrowski referred to Velasquez a few times as the Phils’ No. 5 starter.
But can Girardi really send him back there? For the Phillies, the sad reality is they don’t have better options. Matt Moore and Chase Anderson, signed in the offseason on one-year contracts worth $ 3 million and $ 4 million, didn’t perform well either. Of the three, Velasquez is the only one to have entered a game at least occasionally, with four starts of at least six innings.
Anderson could still get the next opportunity. He allowed two runs in four innings of relief from Velasquez on Friday.
“Believe me, we’re going to look at everything,” Girardi said. “We didn’t always start well in the second half. We didn’t gain much distance in most of our starts.”
The Phillies are off three consecutive Mondays in August – 9, 16, and 23. They’ll have the option to skip their starting fifth multiple times throughout the month, but they’ll still need someone next week in DC. By the time Zach Eflin comes back from his knee tendonitis, Gibson is only replacing Eflin in the rotation, meaning the Phils still have two gigantic holes.
In Perfect World, Eflin returns in two weeks and the Phillies have four starting pitchers that they feel good with in Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Eflin and Gibson. It’s much easier to find the # 5 spot than it is to find two or three spots in a spin on each turn.
The Phillies, a brutal defensive team, played another bad game on the field. Bryce Harper misplayed two balls to right field, each of them falling behind him. Neither was judged to be an error because he didn’t touch the ball, but for all intents and purposes both were. He hit the wall for the second time and injured his rib cage / side. He spent a few minutes in pain and was treated by a coach but stayed in the game. Girardi later said that Harper was fine. Harper has suffered back, shoulder, face, wrist, knee and ankle injuries this season and left Game 2 of Thursday’s doubles program with back spasms.
Rhys Hoskins didn’t play a day after tweaking his groin. It is uncertain whether to play on Saturday. Jean Segura also sat down after appearing to injure his knee while stretching to beat a bang-bang play at first base on Thursday. Segura would have been available for the pinch if the game was close, Girardi said.
Yet despite it all, the Mets lost to the Reds and the Braves lost to the Brewers, so the Phillies lost no ground in the division, ending the night 3½ games away from first place. The Mets also reported on Friday that Jacob deGrom suffered a setback during rehab from a forearm injury and was shut down. Will he relaunch this season?
The 51-52 Phillies are injured as they try to level the series on Saturday. Aaron Nola takes the start after missing his second shutout of the season last weekend against the Braves.
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