Game Wrap 4/6/2026: Phillies 6 Giants 4

The Giants built an early 4-0 lead only to lose the game on another bullpen failure in the 7'th inning.  Key Lines:

Willy Adames SS- 2 for 4, 2 2B, BB, R.  BA= .214.  Nice game from Adames who seemed to have a more controlled aggression in his swing.  Alas, he only had a run-scored to show for it. 

Luis Arraez 2B- 2 for 4, SF, R, RBI.  BA= .295.  Arraez has been the team's best hitter.  The Sac Fly might have been a grand slam in some ballparks.  Instead the Giants got just one run out of a 1-out, bases-loaded situation.  

Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 4, 3B, R, 2 RBI.  BA= .262.  Chapman stung the ball with a single that was 113 MPH in the first inning that nearly hit the 2B ump then drove in 2 runs with a 104 MPH triple in the 3'rd inning.  He also started a GIDP from 3B. The Giants first 3 batters in the lineup had a total of 6 hits, 3 XBH's and reached base 7 times.  Problem is the cleanup hitter, Rafael Devers went 0 for 4.  

Adrian Houser RHP- 6 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 3 K's, 10/3 GO/AO.  ERA= 3.97.  Houser had a Quality Start in hand after 6 innings.  He was only at 84 pitches so Tony Vitello let him go out for the 7'th inning.  He gave up a hard single to lefty batting Justin Crawford.  Trea Turner followed with a bloop single to RF.  With lefty-hitting Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper coming up, Tony Vitello brought in Ryan Borucki LHP to face them and all hell broke loose.  

Ryan Borucki LHP- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 9.00.  Borucki is generally reasonably effective against LHB's but he walked Schwarber on 4 pitches then gave up a ground ball single to Harper which plated both of Houser's inherited runners tying the score.  Borucki is generally terrible against RH batters and now, because of the 3-batter rule, he had to face righty-batting Alec Bohm who hit a squibber down the first base line at 66 MPH that got past Devers, drove in Schwarber and sent Harper to 3B who later scored on a sac fly against Caleb Killian RHP.

Matt Gage LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Tony Vitello said that Gage was the option to start an inning while Borucki was the situational lefty.  

Blade Tidwell RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Tidwell looked really good again with a 97 MPH fastball.  

The game really swung on the pitching decisions in the 7'th inning.  Each decision was defensible in isolation but ended as a disaster.  Ryan Borucki admittedly pitched in some bad luck but he is so bad against RH batters he should probably never face them or else walk them intentionally when he must.  If he can't reliably get LH batters out, he has no utility.  Hopefully he is not on the team by tonight's game.

Tony Vitello had other options.  Matt Gage could have started the 7'th inning with 3 lefty batters out of the next 4.  He also could have brought Gage in to face Schwarber and Harper when Houser ran into trouble.  He still would have had Kilian Tidwell and Ryan Walker  RHP available to pitch the 8'th and 9'th innings.  I am pretty sure there was not a fan in the stands or watching on TV who didn't audibly groan when Borucki came in.

Robbie Ray LHP tries to get things back on track tonight facing Christopher Sanchez LHP who comes in with an ERA of 0.79.