"I love you guys but y’all owe us a playoff berth" "Imagine getting swept by the 2022 Giants" - Philadelphia Phillies fans up in arms as club gets swept by the San Francisco Giants

The Philadelphia Phillies are sputtering at the moment. Despite the return of club star Bryce Harper, the Phillies have won just four of their last 10 games. To top it all off, the ball team was recently swept by the ailing San Francisco Giants in their season series.

Philly succumbed to San Francisco in today's 5-3 contest via a Wilmer Flores' walk-off home run. This placed the Phillies' record for their short roadtrip to one win and five losses. They still hold the last playoff spot in the National League, but they look far too inconsistent to hold on to it.

The often clinical Ranger Suarez was pulled after just four innings of work after he issued three runs. This gave the Giants the lead at 3-0 by the end of the fourth inning.

On the Giants' side of the mound, Carlos Rodon went on a sensational six-inning barrage wherein he struck out 10 batters and issued no runs. This gave the hurler his first 200 strikeout campaign of his MLB career.

J.T. Realmuto pulled things back with a three-run homer in the eighth for the Philadelphia Phillies. This tied the game up and gave the Phillies a chance to get the go-ahead run in the ninth. However, this wouldn't be the case as David Robertson surrendered a two-run walk-off blast to Wilmer Flores that ended the game 5-3.

The defeat is certainly disheartening as the Philadelphia Phillies have now dropped two straight series—one against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the other was this one against the Giants.

The win pushed the San Francisco Giants' record to 64-68. The team is still a long way away from the final National League Wild Card slot. However, with the Phillies three-game sweep, they certainly made the playoff race more interesting.

Philadelphia Phillies' pitching staff falter against the San Francisco Giants

The Philadelphia Phillies surrendered five runs or more in every game against the San Francisco Giants in their three-game series. This included a 13-1 demolition in the series opener.

Going into the season, the Phillies were expected to go all-in on offense as proven by their offseason acquisitions. This, in turn, left their pitching staff stagnant and unimproved.

For context, the Phillies' pitching crew remains in the bottom half of the league when it comes to an ERA of 3.90. Their bullpen ERA is even worse, dropping to 4.11. It would be interesting to see how far this all-offensive approach can sustain the Phillies' in the closing stages of the season—and eventually, the playoffs.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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