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Horrendous Offense, Poor Umpiring Hurts Phillies in Opener of West Coast Trip

Originally posted on Philadelphia Phillies on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Jul 8, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The Philadelphia Phillies are trying to finish the first half of the season strong.

With six games remaining before All-Star festivities get underway, they headed out to the West Coast for sets against the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

But the Phillies weren't able to get their trip started on the right foot, losing 3-1 against the Giants where they were hurt by a horrendous offensive performance and poor umpiring.

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In the top of the eigth inning, after Kyle Schwarber roped a single into right field for his first hit of the game, Bryce Harper stepped into the batter's box with a chance to make some noise.

Unfortunately, he was robbed of any chance to do so by umpire Phil Cuzzi.

Two horrendous strike calls put Harper into an immediate 0-2 hole, and it changed the entire complexion of the at-bat and resulted in a ground out.

Missed calls happen since it's part of the game, but what occurred the very next frame was inexcusable.

With a runner on first base and nobody out, Orion Kerkering should have gotten a third strike called on three separate occasions, only to not get a single one of them which eventually resulted in runners on first and second with nobody out.

A half inning apart

Pitches 1 and 2 against Harper were called strikes…

Literal game changing stuff#Phillies pic.twitter.com/iWgVEVwi1n
— Brad Wakai (@BWakai) July 8, 2025

This wasn't the sole reason why Philadelphia lost, but it certainly affected the outcome of the game, especially in a tight contest featuring two teams that have been struggling to score on offense.

However, those missed calls don't excuse the horrible hitting the Phillies displayed.

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Cristopher Sanchez pitched a gem for Philadelphia again, something that has become commonplace for the left-hander. With seven strong innings where he navigated out of some early trouble to leave the contest with just one run allowed and eight strikeouts on his stat line, that was more than enough for his offense to produce a win for him.

But like has been the story for the past few games, the Phillies were atrocious on offense once again.

With a combined six hits on the night, they were only able to muster one run that came on a passed ball, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven on base.

That performance now has this lineup at 0-for-21 with RISP in their last three games.

When going back to their series opening against the Cincinnati Reds on July 4, they have now gone 3-for-34 when runners are in scoring position, leaving a staggering 31 men on base.

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That is simply not good enough, especially with a lineup features as many star-caliber players as they have.

Plenty of people will say that's the norm for Philadelphia, but that hasn't been the case this year.

The Phillies have been one of the best teams in baseball when it comes to those situations, but they have ran into a major issue as of late that is hurting this pitching staff.

They need to get this figured out soon, because if this is the norm going forward, not even this elite group of starting pitchers will be able to carry them for the rest of the season and when it matters most in the playoffs.

For more Phillies news, head over to Phillies On SI.

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Phillies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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