Let’s get this part out of the way. Rob Thomson’s decision to bringing in Orion Kerkering over Seranthony Dominguez in the seventh inning yesterday was not the reason the team lost. It didn’t help, which is what we’ll talk about here, but to win a baseball game, a team generally needs to score more than one run. That’s the reason right there. That’s why the Phillies lost.
But maybe they could have helped themselves with a little pitching wisdom.
The Phillies had taken the lead in the game in the seventh inning thanks to rattling the Diamondbacks bullpen, Bryce Harper scampering in from third on a wild, wild pitch from Ryan Thompson that put the game, and Arizona’s season, on the brink.