July 09, 2025
D. Ross Cameron/Imagn Images
Bryce Harper had four hits — all for extra bases — in a series finale win Wednesday.
It was a truly up and down stay in chilly, windy San Francisco this week for the Phillies, as they dropped two of three games, and briefly fell out of sole possession of first place in the NL East.
A gem from Jesús Luzardo and an offensive explosion salvaged the finale Wednesday and has the Phils up by half a game over the Mets in the NL East with the All-Star Break fast approaching.
If you slept through the first two games of this series, the rest of Philadelphia's fan base is jealous of you. Two of the most frustrating losses you'll ever see in baseball have the Phillies staring at a potential losing road trip with the potent Padres next on the docket this coming weekend (after a Thursday off day in California).
Here's our regular series-ending look at some winners and losers from a bizarre trio of games in the Bay Area:
Cris Sánchez
The Phillies' homegrown hurler continued to bolster his All-Star snub case, tossing seven innings of one-run baseball to open the series Monday. He struck out eight hitters and lowered his ERA even further to 2.59 on the year — fourth best in the entire National League and lower than several All-Star selections. He is also third in the NL in WAR with a 4.2 number. The Phillies have three of the highest individual pitching WARs in the league in Zack Wheeler (first), Sánchez (third) and Ranger Suárez (4th).
Kyle Schwarber
Now to a player who is an All-Star in Schwarber, who blasted his 28th homer of the year in Game 2 of the series to put the Phillies up 3-1 late. It should have been the go-ahead runs if not for the once in a lifetime walk-off loss the team suffered shortly after. A day later, Schwarber hit number 29, a three-run bullet in a seven-run 8th for the Phillies. He is hitting .253 with 68 RBI, both numbers on pace to rival career bests.
Bryce Harper
Harper finally looked like himself in the series finale, collecting four hits (three of them doubles) and his 10th homer of the season. It is the first game in his career with four extra base hits. Talk about Harper's decline might be a bit premature for the 32-year-old, who is still finding his sea legs after missing a few weeks of action with both elbow and wrist injuries.
Jesús Luzardo
As we mentioned up top, Luzardo was every bit back to being his ace-like self against the Giants, striking out seven in seven shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and continues to slither back and forth between dominant and dreadful. Here's a look at his six starts since he allowed 20 runs in 5.2 innings to end May/start June:
| Start | Stats |
| Win vs. Cubs (6/11) | 6 IP, 1 ER, 10 K, 0 BB |
| Loss at Marlins (6/17) | 5 IP, 4 ER, 4 K, 4 BB |
| Win vs Mets (6/22) | 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 7 K, BB |
| Loss at Braves (6/28) | 5 IP, 2 ER, 7 K, 3 BB |
| Loss vs. Reds (7/4) | 2 IP, 5 ER, 5 K, 3 BB |
| Win at Giants | 7 IP, 0 ER, 7 K, BB |
Everyone involved in the walk-off three-run inside the park home run loss
PATRICK BAILEY
— MLB (@MLB) July 9, 2025
WALK-OFF INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUN@SFGIANTS WIN! pic.twitter.com/xwswjv2fLP
• Jordan Romano: He gave up the inside the park three-run shot — that would have been a regular home run in 29 MLB ballparks — and continues to be just awful.
• Dave Dombrowski: The Phillies front office, led by Dombrowski, has made some terrible bullpen-related decisions in the months since their bullpen had three All-Stars last year. He swapped Jeff Hoffman for Jordan Romano, let Carlos Estévez walk, traded away Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto (each pitching well in Baltimore) and left the team without much to rely on.
• Rob Thomson: Philly's manager didn't pull the right triggers in what was essentially a bullpen game Tuesday. He yanked Taijuan Walker after four innings and put a lot of pressure on the rest of the bullpen. He also decided to have Romano stay in the game for a five-out save despite having a lackluster season so far. Walker was only pitching, by the way, because the front office had a short leash with Mick Abel, who was sent to the minors last week.
• Orion Kerkering: Due to his blowing of the prior night's game, surrendering two runs in a 1-1 tie, Kerkering wasn't available. Perhaps he'd have fared better in the 8th and 9th than Romano.
• Brandon Marsh: Marsh did his best, but perhaps being less aggressive in his sizing up the fly ball could have given him a better opportunity to field it off the wall carom and keep at least one of the three runs from scoring.
• The offense: An 0-for-26 streak with runners in scoring position was ended Tuesday, but the offense scored just four total runs in the first two games of the series — unacceptable from a lineup with so much pop and talent. We should give them credit for Wednesday's 17-hit, 13-run output. Would have been nice to have a little of that the first two games.
The umpires Monday
It's sort of a loser mentality to blame the officiating, we know that. And we already singled out Kerkering for his role in losing the series opener. But also, what are you supposed to do when this happens?
Orion Kerkering struck out Matt Chapman 3 separate times but the umpire completely missed all these strike calls. Then, Chapman hit a single. The Philadelphia Phillies are now losing… pic.twitter.com/i6BVhhM2AK
— js9innings (@js9inningsmedia) July 8, 2025
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