On the day it was announced one Phillies young starter (Aaron Nola) would officially be out for the season, another one’s woes continued.
Jake Thompson again struggled to find the strike zone and his third career start ended in just five innings in Wednesday’s 7-2 Phillies' loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers were patient at the plate and took advantage of a few Thompson mistakes for home runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
Add that with the Phillies’ inability to produce with runners in scoring position, and the result was the team's sixth loss in its last seven against the Dodgers.
The Phillies are being outscored 22-7 so far this series.
Starting pitching report
Thompson was effectively wild in his first three innings, scattering a hit and a walk without surrendering a run. In the third, he struck out Chase Utley and Corey Seager back to back to end the inning in 1-2-3 fashion.
MLB
But then came the fourth inning, when Thompson struggled throwing first-pitch strikes. A single by Justin Turner and a walk issued to Josh Reddick was the appetizer for the first of two home runs on the night from Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
In the fifth, Turner launched a two-run shot off Thompson to left field to put the Dodgers ahead, 5-1.
Thompson needed 103 pitches to get through five innings. He threw 55 strikes and fell behind 14 of the 24 batters he faced. Thompson allowed five runs on five hits while walking four and striking out four.
He has now walked nine batters in his first 14 1/3 big-league innings and has an 8.79 ERA.
Moreover, it was the eighth consecutive time a Phillies starter pitched less than six innings, tying a team record, and the 19th straight time failing to pitch seven innings. Phillies starters have a 7.06 ERA in those 19 games.
Bullpen report
Frank Herrmann, recalled from Triple A Lehigh Valley Wednesday for his first big-league action since 2012, allowed one hit and struck out two in his one inning of work.
Edubray Ramos served up a two-run home run off the bat of Gonzalez in the top of the seventh inning.
David Hernandez allowed a hit and issued a walk in a scoreless eighth inning.
Severino Gonzalez pitched around two singles for a scoreless ninth.
At the plate
The Phillies opened the scoring on Dodgers starter Scott Kazmir in the second inning with a Freddy Galvis RBI double that scored Maikel Franco.
Kazmir then settled in until getting a little wild in the fifth inning. The Phillies loaded the bases with two outs for Aaron Altherr, but Altherr — who was ahead in the count, 2-0 — grounded out softly to second base to keep the Phillies behind, 5-1.
Tommy Joseph launched an upper-deck bomb on the first pitch of sixth inning, his 16th of the year, to cut the deficit to 5-2.
The Phillies had their best chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the sixth. The Phillies loaded the bases against Kazmir and reliever Grant Dayton, and had nobody out when Peter Bourjos came to the plate as Dayton’s second batter.
Bourjos sent a fly ball out to Reddick that appeared to be deep enough to score Franco from third. But Franco stood on third base and barely moved, despite the fact that Reddick had thrown behind the runner at second base. Jimmy Paredes then flew out to center but too short to run on Joc Pederson. And Cesar Hernandez flew out to Pederson to end the threat.
The Phillies tallied 11 hits on the night but managed just the two runs. They left 10 runners on base and were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
In the field
Tuesday night it was Utley’s bat that sent the home crowd into a frenzy in his first game in Philadelphia in another uniform. Wednesday, the longtime Phillies second baseman brought back memories with his glove.
In the third inning, after a hard single and a hard out, Utley snared a chopper off the bat of Altherr and quickly flipped backhanded to shortstop Seager, who played the role of Jimmy Rollins and fired to first to end the inning.
Cesar the great
One of the few positives of late has been the play of Hernandez, who extended his career-high on-base streak to 23 games with a first-inning single. He finished 2 for 4 at the plate.
Nola’s season done
Prior to Wednesday’s game, the Phillies announced that Nola’s season was over as he was transferred to the 60-day disabled list (see story).
Up next
The series concludes Thursday night. Jerad Eickhoff (8-12, 3.82 ERA) starts for the Phillies against RHP Ross Stripling (3-4, 4.07).
The Phillies then open a three-game series with St. Louis at home on Friday night.