Phils lose finale in St. Louis on a wild pitch in extra innings

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The day after two of their top players were plunked by fastballs, the Phillies failed to gain their revenge on the scoreboard Thursday afternoon.

The St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 4-3 win over the Phils in 10 innings at Busch Stadium.

Tyler O’Neill scored the winning run from third base with one out in the bottom of the 10thon a wild pitch by reliever David Hale.

The run ended a string of 10 scoreless innings by Phillies’ relievers in the four-game series. It was an unearned run against Hale because extra innings start with a runner on second base. O’Neill moved to third on a ground out.

The Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th with Matt Joyce getting thrown out at third base for the third out with J.T. Realmuto on deck

Phillies starter Aaron Nola allowed just four hits, a walk and he struck out seven in six innings of work. He took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth but lost it on a two-out, three-run pinch-hit homer by Matt Carpenter.

It was the fifth pinch-hit homer allowed by Phillies pitching this season. The Phillies tied the game at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the seventh.

The Phillies are 12-13. They have not won back-to-back games since the third and fourth games of the season, a span of 21 games.

The Phils finished the seven-game road trip with three wins and four losses. Since the start of the 2018 season, the Phils are 80-123 on the road.

Defense hurts again

The Phillies have been hurt by sloppy defense all season and were again in the fifth inning of this one. Andrew Knizner blooped a base hit to center field and moved to second when Odubel Herrera did not field it cleanly. He was charged with an error. Herrera would have avoided the error altogether if he’d been able to get a better jump on the ball and make the catch. 

That hit and the error opened first base and with two outs, manager Joe Girardi called for Nola to walk the No. 8 hitter, Edmundo Sosa, intentionally. The Cardinals then pinch-hit for starter Kwang Hyun Kim with the veteran Carpenter.

Carpenter was just 3 for 41 on the season, but he remains a dangerous hitter and he showed it when he jumped on an 0-1 curveball and sent it over the rightfield wall for a three-run homer that gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

Roman Quinn, who started in right field in place of Bryce Harper, nearly robbed the home run and saved the day for Nola. Quinn leaped at the wall and had the ball in his glove, but it came loose when his body hit the wall and it dropped for a homer.

Fighting back

The Phils came back to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the seventh on a leadoff double by Nick Maton, a one-out RBI double by Andrew McCutchen and an RBI base hit by Alec Bohm.

McCutchen, who entered the game hitting .162, had two hits in the game. He also had the go-ahead hit in Wednesday’s 5-3 win. He’s swinging the bat better after sitting out Monday and Tuesday.

Just terrific

Realmuto doubled home the first run of the game in the top of the third inning to give the Phils and Nola a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, he threw out a would-be base stealer at second.

The day after

Harper, who came away basically unhurt after taking a 97-mph fastball in the face Wednesday night, got a day off. So, too, did Didi Gregorius, who was hit in the ribs by a 96-mph fastball in that game.

Phillies reliever Hector Neris hit Nolan Arenado with a pitch with two outs in a tie game in the ninth. It was unclear whether that was intentional, but Cardinals manager Mike Shildt was ejected for arguing after Neris did not receive a warning. 

Up next

The Phillies return home Friday night to begin a seven-game homestand against the Mets and Brewers.

Chase Anderson (0-3, 6.48) pitches Friday night against Mets’ right-hander Marcus Stroman (3-1, 2.25).

Zack Wheeler pitches Saturday night against Taijuan Walker.

Zach Eflin gets the start Sunday night against lefty David Peterson.

The Phils will not see Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom in the series.

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