John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia Phillies Drop Second Game as Cardinals Even Series
It was another tough start for Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Kyle Gibson, as the righty gave up four home runs in a row to the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning on Saturday. All of them came with two outs.
However, Gibson recovered and pitched three scoreless innings after the first before loading the bases in the fifth, giving way to reliever Corey Knebel. It marks the second straight outing that Gibson began with a rocky start. In his last two starts combined, Gibson has thrown just 6.2 innings and allowed 11 earned runs.
That is not a sustainable pace for what should be a middle-of-the-rotation starter for the Phillies, especially if they are eyeing a postseason race.
On the flip side, Philadelphia's offense nearly rallied to pull off another improbable victory. Nick Castellanos seems to have flipped the page, as he notched two more hits and a RBI. Odubel Herrera recorded three hits on the evening, and Alec Bohm and Yairo Muñoz both got two hits.
Additionally, the bullpen has been an impressive unit this series. They allowed only one run on Saturday, a Nolan Arenado home run off of Seranthony Domínguez in the ninth inning to give the Cardinals a 7-6 lead—one they would not relinquish.
Domínguez has been solid and performed well on Saturday. He was called in to shutdown the eighth for Brad Hand with two outs and did so by striking out NL MVP frontrunner Paul Goldschmidt. Unfortunately for Domínguez, Arenado has been on an absolute tear this series and he once again took advantage. He hit for the cycle on Friday, and hit two home runs on Saturday. He has been a tough out.
Sunday will be the rubber match between these two teams and a marquee matchup between Zack Wheeler and Adam Wainwright will determine the series victor. It will also be broadcasted on primetime on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball with first pitch scheduled for 7:08 p.m. EST.
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