The Philadelphia Phillies Bryson Stott (5) hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning against the San Francisco Giants. The Giants catcher behind Stott is Tom Murphy at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia (AP News photo)

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

San Francisco Giants 3 (15-19)

Philadelphia Phillies 14 (23-11)

Win: Range Suarez (6-0)

Loss: Keaton Winn (3-4)

Time: 3:01 (1:10 delay)

Attendance: 42,610

By Stephen Ruderman

The Phillies just took it to the Giants, as they slaughtered them 14-3 on a rainy night at Citizens Bank Park, and the Giants have now dropped four of their first five games on this road trip.

The Phillies beat the Giants 4-3 in the series opener last night after the Giants’ offense wasted more key opportunities. Tonight, the offense would have to face the left-hander and the National League Pitcher of the Month for April, Ranger Suarez, who came into tonight undefeated at 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA. The Giants countered with Keaton Winn, who after a rough first two starts to his season, has pitched well over his last four starts.

Before tonight’s game, both teams had to deal with an hour-and-10-minute rain delay. The game was finally able to begin, but intermittent rain would continue throughout the night.

Once the game began, Suarez walked Austin Slater to start things off. After striking both Thairo Estrada and Jung-hoo Lee out looking, Wilmer Flores flew out on a low-hanging fly ball to left field.

When the Phillies came up to bat, they were more than ready for Keaton Winn. Kyle Schwarber walked to start things out and advanced to second on a passed ball by Tom Murphy. J.T. Realmuto also walked, and Bryce Harper lined a single the other way to left to load the bases. Winn then hit Alec Bohm, which scored the first run of the game, and Brandon Marsh lined a base-hit to right to score Realmuto and make it 2-0.

Winn got Nick Castellanos to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to finally get the first two outs of the inning. Harper scored to make it 3-0, but it was a pair of outs Winn desperately needed. Unfortunately for Winn, the Phillies weren’t done. Bryson Stott singled to right to score Bohm and make it 4-0, and Edmundo Sosa reached on an infield hit to second, which knocked Winn out of the game after two-thirds of an inning. Mitch White came in for Winn and allowed a single to Johan Rojas to make it 5-0.

With the Phillies up 5-0 and Suarez on the mound, the Giants had their work cut out for them, and Suarez responded by throwing a 1-2-3 top of the second inning.

The Phillies came back up in the top of the second and kept going. Realmuto tripled to start the inning and scored on a wild pitch. Tom Murphy felt his knee pop while going after the wild pitch on the wet and slippery glass and was replaced by Blake Sabol, who was called up from the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats prior to the game.

The bases were empty, but that didn’t stop the Phillies. Harper walked; Bohm singled; and Marsh walked to load the bases. Stott grounded to second for a 6-4 fielder’s choice for the first out of the inning, but another run scored to make it 7-0. Stott singled on a ground ball that hit off the glove of the diving second-baseman, Thairo Estrada, and ricocheted into right-center to make it 8-0. Sosa grounded out back to the mound for the second out, but Nick Castellanos scored to give the Phillies a 9-0 lead in just the second inning.

The Giants got in both the run and hit columns in the top of the third, and they scored two more runs in the top of the fifth to make it 9-3. I guess you could say that a positive out of tonight’s blowout is that the Giants got to Suarez for three runs, but this still ended up being the ninth-straight game in which the Giants’ offense was limited to three runs or less.

The Phillies scored four more runs off Randy Rodriguez in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a real laugher, as they now led it 13-3. Philadelphia tacked on one more off Erik Miller in the bottom of the seventh to make it 14-3. Bob Melvin then brought in Tyler Fitzgerald to throw batting practice in the bottom of the eighth, but the Phillies’ offense seemed to have had enough for one night and went down 1-2-3.

Ranger Suarez went six innings, and he was followed up by Jose Ruiz, who pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth. Phillies Manager Rob Thompson went to the struggling Seranthony Dominguez for a maintenance inning in the top of the ninth, and he of course pitched a scoreless inning.

So, that’s it. Suarez the win, Winn the loss, and the Giants tie their season-high—or shall I say season-low—four games under .500 at 15-19, and they will have to bounce back tomorrow night on ESPN’s Sunday Night Game of the Week. The good news for the Giants is that they will have their ace, Logan Webb, on the mound. First pitch will be at 7:10 p.m. in Philadelphia, 4:10 p.m. back home in San Francisco.

News and Notes:

Catcher Patrick Bailey was indeed played on the 7-Day Concussion Injured List after taking a foul ball to the mask off the bat of Alec Bohm last night, and as mentioned above Blake Sabol was called up and made his 2024 Debut.

As for Tom Murphy, who felt a pop on his knee when going for the wild pitch from Mitch White in the bottom of the second inning, he will undergo an MRI tomorrow. Safe to say it doesn’t look good, and good chance the Giants will have to call up another catcher.