No sweep for the Phillies on July 4 weekend. Manny Machado wasn’t having it.
The Padres’ third baseman quickly put the game out of reach with a two-run homer in the first inning and a three-run homer in the third off of Vince Velasquez.
In between, he started an excellent double play on a rocket off the bat of Ronald Torreyes. Machado picked the short hop with ease and rapidly threw to second to start the twin killing. The Phillies hit into four double plays and Machado started three of them.
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The Phils won the series but lost the final game in horrific fashion, 11-1, in front of a crowd of 25,592. They are 39-42 at the midpoint of the season.
Both of Machado’s home runs off of Velasquez came with two outs. The second was especially troubling because it came after Velasquez issued a pair of two-out walks with nobody aboard.
In fact, all 11 Padres runs scored with two outs. Hector Neris struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth, then put six straight men on base and all six scored.
The Phillies had their chances against San Diego lefty Blake Snell but could not capitalize. Snell lasted only four innings and threw more balls (42) than strikes (39) but the Phillies stranded six runners against him.
MLB
They scored their lone run on J.T. Realmuto's opposite-field solo homer in the sixth.
Didi Gregorius had the day off after going 2 for 7 with a homer and a double in his first two games back from the injured list. Torreyes started at shortstop. Luke Williams started in center for Odubel Herrera, who is 6 for 50 (.122) with no walks in his last 13 games. Herrera’s on-base percentage has dipped from .341 to .295 over that span.
Andrew McCutchen exited the game in the ninth inning with oblique tightness. He will be reevaluated Monday.
The Phillies finish up the first half of their season on the road. They’re at Wrigley Field for four games Monday through Thursday, all 8:05 p.m. starts, then have three at Fenway with the Red Sox.
The Cubs have lost nine consecutive games and have scored two runs or fewer in 15 of their last 20.
The Phils are set to face old pal Jake Arrieta in the second game of the Cubs series. Arrieta, who has a 5.57 ERA, ranks 97th in Wins Above Replacement among the 97 starting pitchers who’ve thrown at least 70 innings this season.
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