Citizens Bank Park felt like the inside of Jeff Spicoli’s van Thursday night.
The air was tinged with the drifting smoke of Canadian wildfires as the Phillies and New York Mets got back to work in less than ideal conditions after the All-Star break.
Early in the day, Major League Baseball considered postponing the game because of poor air quality. There was a hitch, though. This was the only game on the schedule as the All-Star break continued for 28 other teams, and ESPN was in the house to broadcast the game nationally.
Damn the lungs! Play ball!
The start time was moved up an hour to 6:10 p.m., but that didn’t help the Phillies much as they lost, 4-1, to the Mets.
The air was a murky gray at first pitch. Conditions worsened as the game went on. Umpires checked with players to see if they were OK throughout the game.
Phillies left fielder Brandon Marsh said it was tough to see a line drive by Jorge Polanco in the eighth inning. Marsh ended up making the play.
“The conditions played no part in the final result,” he said. “They played through the same stuff we did. We just have to be better.”
By definition, Aaron Nola turned in a quality start for the Phillies. That’s what you call it when a pitcher goes six innings or more and allows three or fewer earned runs.
But Nola’s quality start featured a few low-quality pitches. Three of them landed over the wall.
While Nola did manage to keep his team in the game, the offense did not capitalize. The Phillies, who rank dead last in the majors with a .302 on-base percentage, had just four hits and they left runners on the corners in a 1-0 game when Marsh struck out to end the sixth.
Marsh, who was leading the National League with a .338 batting average on June 7, is hitting .167 in July. He is down to .297 for the season.
He did line out to left in his final at-bat of the night.
“That last one felt really good,” he said. “Something I can build off. I felt good after that last one, for sure.”
Mets starter Christian Scott held the Phillies to three hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He walked none and struck out seven.
Nola pitched into the seventh inning. He walked four and struck out six. He got some big outs, like when he pitched out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth. He allowed six hits, but three of them were solo homers. One came on a slider, one on a sinker and one on a four-seam fastball.
“The stuff feels good,” Nola said. “The solo home runs hurt me. I feel like that’s how it’s gone this year and last year. I make a mistake over the plate and they don’t miss it.”
Nola said the move-up in start time did not affect him. He had been at the ballpark long before the time change was announced.
But he acknowledged: “It was really smoky. Not ideal. But it is what it is. It’s an outdoor stadium. You have to get the game in and play through different conditions.”
Nola was at 90 pitches through six innings. Friday night in Detroit, manager Don Mattingly hooked the right-hander after five innings and the bullpen imploded. This time, Mattingly stuck with Nola for the seventh and the right-hander gave up back-to-back homers to Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez (his second of the game) to put the Mets ahead, 3-0.
“So, I take him out too early and leave him in too long,” Mattingly said in response to a question about how he’s handled Nola the last two starts. “I take each game for what it is. He was throwing the ball good. If he’d struggled in the sixth, I would have been more proactive. But he threw the ball so well in the sixth, I felt good about him there.”
The Phillies had just three hits through the first seven innings. Trea Turner clubbed a solo homer in the eighth, but it was too little too late, even before the Mets padded their lead against reliever Seth Johnson in the ninth.
The air was hazy at the start of the game. Still, a crowd of 40,109 turned out. By mid-game, the air quality worsened. Center City, usually eye-grabbing day or night, was not visible as a low cloud hung over the ballpark. All that was missing was Bela Lugosi. Or Jeff Spicoli’s van. Or some Phillies’ offense.
More smoke is in the forecast for Friday, but the two teams are off. The series resumes Saturday, when rain is in the forecast.
Source link
