GDT 5/21/19 Philadelphia Phillies (Eflin) @ Chicago Cubs (Quintana)

[Patchmk88]

Big time out there.

[kikutaro]

Heyward

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Juan Nicasio intentionally walks Jason Heyward.

[kikutaro]

Almora Jr.

Foul (89.5 mph slider)
In play, run(s) (88.2 mph slider)
20 ft ground ball (exit speed: 16 mph, launch angle: 42°)

Albert Almora reaches on a fielder's choice, fielded by pitcher Juan Nicasio. Kris Bryant scores. Anthony Rizzo to 3rd. Jason Heyward to 2nd.

Philadelphia Phillies 2 - Chicago Cubs 2

[LoneStarPhan]

Blown save on tapper to the pitcher.

Lead off walk does it again.

[Patchmk88]

Yup the walk is always the killer. Wish he would have put a little more ump behind the throw.

[kikutaro]

Báez, J

Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter Javier Baez replaces Daniel Descalso.
In play, run(s) (88.2 mph slider)
199 ft line drive (exit speed: 90 mph, launch angle: 8°)

Javier Baez singles on a line drive to right fielder Bryce Harper. Anthony Rizzo scores. Jason Heyward to 3rd. Albert Almora to 2nd.

Chicago Cubs 3 - Philadelphia Phillies 2

[HopeSpringsEternal]

A tale of two flawed bullpens - theirs failed last night; ours failed tonight.

[Patchmk88]

Well that was disappointing.

[kmc1019]

Embarrassing ending. Hope it does not swing the momentum of the series entirely.

[kikutaro]

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia Phillies	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	6	0
Chicago Cubs	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	10	1

Final

---

Philadelphia Phillies

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Andrew McCutchen LF	4	0	1	2	0	1	0	.244	.373	.398	.771
Jean Segura SS	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	.318	.363	.484	.847
Bryce Harper RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.224	.360	.454	.814
Rhys Hoskins 1B	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.251	.380	.509	.889
J.T. Realmuto C	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.270	.326	.442	.768
Cesar Hernandez 2B	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.309	.372	.469	.841
Scott Kingery CF	4	1	1	0	0	1	0	.375	.432	.650	1.082
Maikel Franco 3B	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	.229	.298	.412	.710
Zach Eflin P	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.176	.176	.176	.352
Odubel Herrera PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.223	.285	.348	.633
Edgar Garcia P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Jose Alvarez P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Phil Gosselin PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.256	.256	.333	.589
Juan Nicasio P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000

Chicago Cubs

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Kyle Schwarber LF	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	.217	.335	.391	.726
Kris Bryant 3B	4	2	3	0	1	0	0	.275	.402	.556	.958
Anthony Rizzo 1B	4	1	1	0	1	0	0	.256	.378	.531	.909
Willson Contreras C	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	.317	.419	.612	1.031
Jason Heyward RF	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	.239	.344	.394	.738
Albert Almora Jr. CF	4	0	1	1	1	1	0	.276	.317	.418	.735
Daniel Descalso 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.209	.281	.322	.603
Javier Baez PH	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	.323	.362	.597	.959
Addison Russell SS	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	.259	.333	.407	.740
Jose Quintana P	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.056	.056	.056	.112
Mark Zagunis PH	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.265	.342	.353	.695
Carl Edwards Jr. P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Brandon Kintzler P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
David Bote PH	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.243	.328	.409	.737
Xavier Cedeno P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Kyle Ryan P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000

Philadelphia Phillies

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-K	ERA
Zach Eflin	6.0	6	1	1	4	2	0	104-62	2.76
Edgar Garcia (H, 1)	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0	9-6	5.14
Jose Alvarez (H, 3)	1.1	1	0	0	1	0	0	24-15	4.42
Juan Nicasio (L, 0-2)(BS, 1)	0.1	2	2	2	2	0	0	20-13	4.09

Chicago Cubs

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-K	ERA
Jose Quintana	6.0	2	0	0	3	4	0	100-59	3.30
Carl Edwards Jr. (H, 3)	0.2	2	2	2	0	0	0	18-12	11.05
Brandon Kintzler (BS, 1)	1.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	16-13	3.18
Xavier Cedeno	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	10-5	0.00
Kyle Ryan (W, 1-1)	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	11-5	4.60

[bkeich]

If you are just going to leave a guy in there that cannot get a swing and miss you could just forfeit. That was basically hopeless.

Could at least have brought in Santos. It was obvious they were “on” Nicasio’s pitches, he wasn’t fooling anyone

[kmc1019]

I am enjoying Ricky Bottalico on the post game show ripping Neshek for not being available to pitch.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

I suspect Neshek will go on the IL - yesterday he apparently felt sore; not sure why he wasn’t available today. Maybe Austin Davis will be back in his place. Need a full compliment of relievers in this stretch of games with no days off.

[Patchmk88]

By roster management question is - If Neshek was sore and unavailable and needs to go on the IL, why wasn’t a roster move made today? Couldn’t get someone to Chicago in time?

[LoneStarPhan]

A win there for the taking but they handed it away. The first pitch of the inning was right there for a called strike and then he throws four balls. I used to always say that if I were the manager and a reliever did that in the ninth of a game like this, I'd go out and take him out right then. Of course, all the relievers struggle at times and sometimes you have to ride the one you have available. Regardless, they went with Nicasio and he was not up to the job. Perhaps this was the result of burning four from the pen last night. I assume Morgan, Neris, and Dominguez were not available tonight.

Still, the offense needs to score more. I thought the two runs might just turn out to be enough and really, I think it should have been.

[LoneStarPhan]

I don't know what the story is on Neshek, but I just saw this about last night:

Neshek makes it clear: He was willing to pitch Monday night

If Neshek was okay, I don't understand why he wasn't out there for the ninth inning tonight.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

After reading that article, I have to really question if Kapler has a good feel for when to use Neshek. If the 8th inning last night didn’t scream for him to be called upon, then surely the 9th inning tonight did.

How fragile is he? Has Kapler lost confidence in him?

[Austinfan]

It was a waste of a gutsy performance by Efin, he was struggling with command early, yet hung in there, got through a big jam, and found his groove.

[LoneStarPhan]

As a little consolation, the Giants score 3 in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Braves, 4-3.

The Giants didn't need any walks. They won with a ground out, single, strike out, single, stolen base,single, stolen base, single.

Three hits and two stolen bases after getting two out in the bottom of the ninth.

[zambonir]

Neshek has always been the high-maintenance guy, physically as well as mentally (i.e. he'd prefer to know which inning/role he has).

It looks bad if he wasn't available. And, it does appear Gabe's error on Tuesday was in not having Neshek warmed up in time to face the hitter they wanted him to face. But it's also possible their data said Nicasio was the right guy. That's the thing about data, it's not infallible, but it's also hard for us to second-guess it if we don't know what it is (like if Nicasio was chosen for arm slot reasons, or for an opposing hitter's ability to handle a certain spin rate).

The other thing about data is that if it says one pitcher has a 95% chance of getting someone out and another has a 60% chance the 5% probability is still gonna happen some time. Not saying it should always be push-button but gut isn't necessarily better either.