The Phillies had scored first in nine straight games entering Friday’s series opener in Cleveland and were in business immediately with a Bryson Stott walk and Trea Turner single.
Right-hander Gavin Williams had two on, nobody out for Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, a situation which more often than not produces runs but didn’t on Friday night. Harper advanced them with a groundout, Schwarber struck out looking and Castellanos went down swinging to end an eight-pitch at-bat.
It was the Phillies’ first and best opportunity of the night in a 6-0 loss. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and had no extra-base hits, a quiet offensive night for a team that had scored 70 runs in its last 11 games.
Harper was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and has been in a rut the last six series, going 11-for-63 (.175) with three doubles, a homer, six RBI, nine walks and 19 strikeouts since April 21. It’s been slightly less noticeable because so many other Phillies have hit during that stretch and the team has gone 9-7, but their former MVP hasn’t been himself.
Part of it is the way Harper has been pitched. He’s seen the lowest percentage of pitches inside the strike zone of any player in baseball, 42% compared to a league average of 50%.
And the only player in the National League who has seen a higher rate of breaking balls than Harper (42%) is Castellanos (45%).
The pitch Harper grounded out on in the first inning was a curveball at the bottom of the zone. The pitch he struck out on in the third inning was a curveball well below the zone. He struck out looking in the fifth on a backdoor curveball that caught the upper-outside corner for a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play with Trea Turner. Harper went down on three pitches in the eighth, striking out on a sweeper at his back foot.
Harper’s numbers overall against the breaking ball this season (.237 BA, .458 SLG) are similar to 2022-24 (.253 BA, .469 SLG), but the last few weeks haven’t been pretty.
Aaron Nola’s night started well with three scoreless innings and two quick outs in the fourth before Kyle Manzardo took him deep to center field. The fifth inning, his last, went walk, flyout, two-run homer, single, single, single to put the Guardians up four and load the bases with one out.
Nola allowed four runs in five innings and is 1-6 with a 4.89 ERA.
The Phillies are 22-16 after the first loss of this week’s road trip to Tampa and Cleveland. They’ll look to even the series Saturday night in Ranger Suarez’ second start. Cleveland counters with right-hander Tanner Bibee, who dominated the Phils two seasons ago with seven scoreless, two-hit innings.
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