Phillies fall to Guardians 4-3 in series finale (7/28/24)

PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Phillies (65-39) fell to the Cleveland Guardians (62-42) 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park in the finale of a three-game weekend series. 

The Phillies led off the afternoon with a blast from Kyle Schwarber (21) in the bottom of the first inning to make it 1-0 Phillies off Joey Cantillo who was just three pitches into his major league career. 

Home Run Stats: Bat Speed; 79.2 mph, Swing Length; 7.1 ft, HRS; 106.4 mph.

With the leadoff shot, Schwarber holds a major league record with nine leadoff home runs this season. 

Later in the inning, after getting a runner aboard, Cantillo struck out a struggling Bryce Harper for the second out and his first MLB strikeout. 

Shortly after that Bryan Rocchio and Andres Gimenez combined for a dazzling 6-4 put out which kept the Phils with only a runner aboard with two outs. 

In the bottom of the third, it was Schwarber again who blasted his second home run (22) of the day off Cantillo into the right field bleachers to make the score 3-0 Phillies. 

Home Run Stats: Bat Speed; 76.9 mph, 7.9 ft, HRS; 110.1 mph.

Schwarber, who gave the Phils their only shot at winning the ballgame today with his two home runs, has seemingly broken out of a big-time slump that riddled him coming out of the All-Star break.

In the top of the sixth, it was Jhonkensy Noel’s three-run home run (6) off Kolby Allard that ended the fun for the Phils as the Guardians tied it all up. 

Home Run Stats: EV; 109.6 mph, Height; 112 ft, Wall Distance; 396 ft, Distance; 436 ft

Cantillo went on to strike out three Phillies in his MLB debut as the club struggled to get much of anything going against the rookie pitcher making his very first appearance in the bigs.

One bright spot that could be a sign of better things to come was the defense of Trea Turner who made a huge diving stop off Bo Naylor in the top of the fifth inning to help Gregory Soto get the first out of the inning. Turner has struggled to get a footing on defense this season but has shown some promise as of late with a few nice plays. 

Unfortunately for the Phils’ offense, Cade Smith came in and shut them down in relief of Cantillo, as the side went down 1-2-3. 

The big knock, however, came in the top of the seventh as Steven Kwan knocked one into the right field bleachers (11) off of Jose Alvarado to give Cleveland the 4-3 lead, which they’d never concede. 

In the top of the eighth the struggles would continue as with Jhonkensy Noel at the dish, Jeff Hoffman made a lane for Jose Ramirez to steal second base (20) and put yet another RISP for the Guards. 

Finally, in the bottom of the ninth Emmanuel Clase came on to earn his 33rd save of the season for the Guardians as the club took down the Phils on a Trea Turner ground out.

Phillies POTG: Kyle Schwarber

Win: Tim Herrin, 4-0 (0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB)

Loss: Jose Alvarado, 1-5 (1.0 IP, ER, 0 K, 0 BB)

Save: Emmanuel Clase, 33 SAVES (1.0 IP, 0 ER, K, 0 BB)