Winning streak snapped as Phillies can't overcome Strider
PHILADELPHIA -- Spencer Strider pitched at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday for the first time since Rhys Hoskins homered, spiked his bat and raced around the bases as a sellout crowd lost its mind in Game 3 of the 2022 National League Division Series.
But Strider did not fold in the opener of this three-game series.
The Phillies had opportunities, but they did not ambush him like they did in October. They lost 4-2, which snapped their six-game winning streak. It was only their third loss in 16 games.
“Any time you can put pressure on a guy,” Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said, “especially somebody who’s had our number a little bit, I thought we had opportunities to get runs in there. It just didn’t happen for us. There’s nothing we can do.”
Strider is 6-0 with a 1.62 ERA in six career starts in the regular season against Philadelphia. But back in Game 3 of the '22 NLDS, Strider, who made his first start that day in nearly a month following an oblique injury, watched his fastball plummet from 98.4 mph in the first two innings to 96.4 in the third. In that six-run inning, Strider intentionally walked Kyle Schwarber to face Hoskins, who smashed a first-pitch fastball at 93.8 mph for his three-run homer.
Strider gave up eight hits on Tuesday, but he avoided major damage. He allowed a leadoff single to Schwarber in the first, a leadoff double to Brandon Marsh in the third and back-to-back singles to Harper and J.T. Realmuto to start the fourth. None of them scored.
The Phillies broke through in the fifth. Marsh and Schwarber hit back-to-back one-out singles. Marsh scored on Nick Castellanos’ two-out single to right to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.
But that was it for the Phils against Strider.
Strider said he felt no extra satisfaction on Tuesday.
“I want to beat everybody,” he said. “I dislike every opponent equally. No offense to them, but that’s how you’ve got to play the game. If you’re not wearing my jersey, then we’re fighting for food.”
Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez allowed a solo homer to Austin Riley in the sixth to tie the game -- Suárez has a 1.38 ERA in his last five starts -- then manager Rob Thomson summoned right-hander Jeff Hoffman from the bullpen to start the seventh.
Hoffman has been a pleasant surprise for the Phillies, but it was surprising to see him pitch in that spot.
Thomson said relievers José Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Yunior Marte were unavailable because of their recent workloads. It left Craig Kimbrel, Gregory Soto, Andrew Vasquez and long man Dylan Covey as the only other options. Kimbrel and Soto were likely earmarked for the eighth and ninth innings, if the game was tied or the Phils had the lead, leaving Hoffman or Vasquez for the seventh. But Vasquez is a lefty, and the Braves have an MLB-leading .899 OPS against lefties (vs. a .789 OPS against righties) this season.
Hoffman gave up two runs to hand Atlanta a 3-1 lead. Vasquez allowed a solo homer to Matt Olson in the eighth to make it 4-1. The Phillies had a potential rally snuffed out in the bottom of the eighth when Realmuto tried to stretch a single into a double but got thrown out.
It was a rare baserunning mistake for Realmuto, who was tied for the fourth-best baserunner in MLB from 2019-22 with +19.5 baserunning runs, according to FanGraphs.
“Just being overaggressive,” Thomson said. “Trying to do too much.”
The Phillies had the tying run at the plate in the ninth, but Schwarber struck out to end the game.
“It would have been great coming in the first night after an off-day and get the ‘W,’ especially against a good team that’s in first place in our division,” Harper said. “I think that’s a game we definitely let get away from us. I thought we battled all night. I thought they battled all night.”