ARLINGTON, Texas — In his first start of the season, it was not Aaron Nola, nor Zack Wheeler, who gave the Phillies the best chance to win a game against the Texas Rangers. It was Bailey Falter, a pitcher who was battling for a spot on the 26-man roster just a month ago.
It was not Nola, nor Wheeler, but Falter who gave the Phillies the length they badly needed on Sunday night, after their two workhorses were unable to pitch deep in games one and two. The left-handed pitcher threw 5 and 1/3 innings on Sunday. They weren’t perfect innings. Falter allowed some hard contact. He gave up seven hits and two earned runs — one of them a home run, to Rangers their baseman Josh Jung. But even then, Falter bounced back.
After Jung’s home run in the bottom of the second inning, Falter retired his next three batters, on a groundout, a flyout and a groundout. After allowing a single to start the third inning, he retired his next three batters, again: flyout, lineout, groundout. He retired all three in the fourth inning, allowed two hits in the fifth inning, one of them an RBI single, and departed in the sixth inning, after allowing a single to Corey Seager, and inducing a groundout to move him to second base.
The Phillies were unable to capitalize on it. With a 2-1 loss to the Rangers on Sunday night, they have yet to win a game this season. It wasn’t as abysmal as their losses on Friday (11-7), or Saturday (16-3) but perhaps slightly more frustrating, because Falter put them well within reach. The Phillies were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position in their third game of the season. They grounded into three double plays.
Part of this was their lineup. With lefty Martin Perez on the mound, manager Rob Thomson decided to give recently acquired right-handed hitter Cristian Pache a start in center field. Pache, who is very much a work in progress, offensively, went 0-for-3 with one strikeout. In the top of the second, with Edmundo Sosa and Bryson Stott on first and second and one out, he grounded into a double play.
Pache wasn’t alone. There were other opportunities that were squandered. In the top of the fourth inning, with runners on first and no outs, Josh Harrison grounded into another double play. Sosa and Stott hit singles to put runners on first and second, again, but Pache struck out.
The closest the Phillies got to taking a lead came in the top of the fifth, when Kyle Schwarber hit a ball 416 feet, only to see it caught by Adolis Garcia at the center field wall. If the ball had landed just a few feet — or inches — further, it would have scored two runs.
The Phillies have now lost 12 straight games to the Rangers. It’s their longest active losing streak against any major league team. They head to New York on Sunday night to face the Yankees for a three game set. They’ll be happy to get out of Texas.
