Phillies 9 Reds 4
Quick Cap: It was the Bryce Harper Show Tuesday night…..and an embarrassing display of defense by Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz. Harper, who entered 0 for 11, clubbed three home runs, including a grand slam to bust things open in the 7th and the Phillies beat the Reds 9-4. Graham Ashcraft deserved better. The Reds defense committed four errors, including three by De La Cruz.
Unacceptable: Elly’s first error was a lazy wrist flip throw on a routine two-out bouncer up the middle. It cost them a run. The second came on a hot dog backhand glove flip attempt on a DP ball a good 15 feet from 2nd base. It was part of a five run 7th. I would have removed him from the game. His third error came when he charged and booted a grounder in the 8th.
Graham Ashcraft: 6 IN, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 85 pitches/56 strikes. He needed just 64 pitches to get through five innings: 17-15-10-11-11. 21 pitch 6th. Harper reached him twice for homers. 6th: Tre Turner singled, advanced on wild pitch, scored on Elly’s 2-out error.
Spencer Turnbull handled the Reds: 5 IN, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 83 pitches/56 strikes. He posted a 7.26 ERA last season. Ricardo Pinto tossed four innings in his first MLB appearance since 2019. He entered with an 8.44 career ERA.
Bats:
Spencer Steer: 3 H
Will Benson ripped another RBI 2B. He entered the night w/ an average exit velocity of 101.6mph on batted balls, that’s compared to 90.2 a year ago.
Whiff: One night after 17 K, the Reds struck out 11 more times, without drawing a walk.
Good D/Bad D: Jake Fraley had a nice running catch. CES a beauty of a stretch at 1B. Benson robbed Harper of extra bases and saved a run with a spectacular catch. CES made a diving catch of a soft liner into foul territory. Four errors: Ashcraft, 3 Elly
Bullpen:
Suter: 0.1 IN, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, HR
Farmer: 1.2, HR ….13 HR over last 76.2 IN.
Frame job: It’s pretty impressive how far Tyler Stephenson has come at framing pitches and stealing strikes.
How they scored:
B3: Benson 2-out RBI 2B, 1-1
B8: Steer scored on throwing error, 8-2
B9: Steer RBI infield single, 9-3, Martine SF, 9-4
Miserable: It was misty, windy and cold, from the first pitch.
Change in plans: Wednesday’s game has been moved from 1:05 pm to 4:05 pm.