Phillies lose a close one 6-5 vs Angels in first game back from All-Star break, Taijuan Walker on the mound tonight
Yesterday was a bit disappointing, but the game was at least pretty entertaining. The offense showed up well enough, but the pitching is what really cost the game. Jesús Luzardo couldn't last five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. He has been seriously inconsistent on the mound lately which is unfortunate after starting off so strong. Not much else to say, it's super 50/50 when he starts lately. Tanner Banks didn't help either, allowing two runs himself.
The offense was acceptable yesterday but Bryce Harper really did the heavy lifting. He had two homers, #11 and #12 on the season, and drove in four of the Phillies five runs. Kyle Schwarber showed he still had power left from that awesome All-Star game and he hit his 31st bomb of the season. So the offense was acceptable, but several guys went 0/4 so that wasn't exactly great. If one or two other guys had decent days at the plate, the Phillies probably win yesterday. The Angels didn't even have a legit starter, as they sent out seven different pitchers. I guess that threw the boys off a bit I guess.
Taijuan Walker gets the start tonight for the Phillies as he tries to solidify his place in the rotation after being reinstated there. I'm confident the boys can get it done. They'll be facing Kyle Hendricks.