The Philadelphia Phillies endured another difficult night on Friday, opening their three-game series against the Detroit Tigers with a lopsided 10-2 loss at Comerica Park. Despite facing a Tigers team below .500, Philadelphia was outplayed from start to finish.
The defeat marked the Phillies’ fourth loss in their last six games and the third time in their past five contests that they have surrendered at least 10 runs. At 52-43, Philadelphia now sits three games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East race.
The night became even more concerning before the first pitch when rookie center fielder Justin Crawford was scratched from the starting lineup because of soreness in his left knee.
Following the game, interim manager Don Mattingly said the club plans to be “careful” with Crawford and acknowledged that the young outfielder could miss time, according to MLB.com.
Phillies Outfielder suffers knee injury during pregame drills
Mattingly explained that Crawford was injured while taking part in pregame defensive work.
“[Crawford] just slipped in the outfield doing some drill work,” Mattingly said after the game. “He had some [knee] soreness and we’ll see how it goes. It felt better as the game went on. We’ll probably be careful with him, but we’ll see how he is [Saturday]. If he wakes up sore or swelling, they’ll probably do [a MRI].’’
Crawford has provided a spark to the Phillies lineup throughout his rookie campaign, particularly over the past several weeks. He is batting .263 with 21 RBIs across 73 games this season, while hitting an impressive .313 since the beginning of June.
The former No. 17 overall selection in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft made his major league debut on March 26 and wasted no time making an impression. He recorded a hit on the first pitch of his first career at-bat before adding another hit later in the same game.
With Crawford unavailable, Derek Hill stepped into center field against his former team. Hill, who debuted with Detroit in 2020, gave Philadelphia an early boost by driving in a run with a single in the third inning before launching a solo home run in the fourth to even the score at 2-2.
However, the game quickly unraveled for the Phillies.
Reliever Tim Mayza struggled in the sixth inning, allowing an RBI single before committing a throwing error on Zack McKinstry’s sacrifice bunt that brought Matt Vierling home. Mayza then surrendered a triple to James Outman that scored both Vierling and Eduardo Valencia as Detroit seized complete control.
The Tigers added three more runs in the seventh inning to put the game out of reach.
Philadelphia will look to rebound when the clubs meet again on Saturday and Sunday before the All-Star break begins. This year’s MLB All-Star Game will be held at Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia.