Game 46 - Hoskins Blasts 100th Homer; Phils Lose Again

2021 Chachi #46

Red Sox 4, Phillies 3
Game 46 - Saturday Night, May 22nd in Philadelphia
Record - 22-24, Tied for 2nd Place, 2 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The offensive struggles continued and Spencer Howard pitched only two strong innings in his first start of '21, as the Sox downed the Phils, 4-3.

What It Means:  The Phillies will try to avoid the three-game sweep this afternoon behind Zack Wheeler.

What Happened:  Howard was fantastic for two innings, but then the wheels came off in the third as his velocity and control went alarmingly south.  The usually reliable Sam Coonrod allowed back-to-back home runs to Xander Bogaerts and Danny Santana in the sixth, giving the Red Sox a 4-1 lead.  The Phillies had their chances, but both Bryce Harper and Brad Miller struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh.  They had the go-ahead run on second base in the ninth, but Harper grounded out to first and Rhys Hoskins struck out to end the game.  Harper, either hurt, mired in a deep slump or both, went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts.  The offense as a whole struck out 13 times.

Featured Card:  Hoskins connected for his 100th career home run in the sixth off Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.  Playing in his 450th game, he became the third fastest Phillies player to reach that milestone, behind Ryan Howard, who holds the MLB record with 325 games, and Chuck Klein, who hit his 100th home run in his 390th game.  Given my wife Jenna and our sons were at the game where Hoskins hit his first Citizens Bank Park home run, I wanted to celebrate that we were also all there for his 100th.

Field Report:  And we witnessed this debacle.  The Phillies relaxed their mask policy in accordance with the new CDC guidelines, and it was a bit jarring to be around that many people unmasked.  As more and more people get vaccinated, this is going to take a little getting used to.  We watched the game from Section 105, directly behind Harper, and I enjoyed seeing the game from the outfield.  I've traditionally sat along the baselines or behind/above home plate, but watching the game from the outfield was great too.

Transaction:  Howard was recalled from Lehigh Valley and Matt Moore (lhp) was placed on the injured list with back spasms.

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