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| Kyle Gibson surrendered six runs, three earned, in loss. | PHOTO: Ken Gillys |
The Dodgers walloped on the Phillies on Wednesday night, showcasing a gulf between the two division leaders. Compounding matters is that the Phils may have lost J.T. Realmuto for the foreseeable future with a possible concussion after taking a pair of foul balls directly off his mask.
Yeah, it wasn't a fun night at a wet and soggy Citizens Bank Park as the Phillies fell, 8-2.
Winners of eight straight coming into this series, the Phillies have now lost back-to-back games and are tied with the Braves for the top spot in the NL East. The Mets sit just one game back.
The Phillies trailed by a run entering the seventh, but a pair of defensive miscues - an error by Alec Bohm and a passed ball by Andrew Knapp - allowed two runs to cross the plate.
"Defense is really important," manager Joe Girardi said. "I still believe you win this game with pitching and defense and when you give a team like the Dodgers extra outs, you're asking for a lot of trouble."
The Phillies offense, which entered the series on a roll, has sputtered to a near stop. The club has collected just one extra-base hit over the past two games and has struck out 24 times.
Kyle Gibson was expected to start for the Phillies, but with rain in the forecast, Girardi decided to have Connor Brogdon start. He knew rain was coming and didn't want to lose Gibson to a weather delay like he lost Aaron Nola on Tuesday.
The plan worked as rain came during the third inning, causing a delay of nearly an hour.
“Had it not rained, it would have been a bigger issue because I probably would have been coming out for the third or fourth and not been able to play the long toss I normally throw and stuff like that,” Gibson said. “But because of the rain delay, I was able to get in an extra stretch and normal throwing and I really treated it as a start time. It just so happened to be the third inning.”
Gibson surrendered six runs, though only three were earned, over 4 1/3 innings.
The Phillies will turn to Ranger Suarez in the finale on Thursday afternoon. The Dodgers have not yet announced a starter.
As for Realmuto, the Phillies will have to wait and see.
"He's day-to-day, questionable," manager Joe Girardi said after the game. "We'll have to see how he is tomorrow, just wait and see. He went through testing and we'll wait for results tomorrow from MLB."
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