TORONTO — Most times when Jhoan Duran makes the jog from the bullpen to the mound, the result of the game seems like a foregone conclusion.
The Phillies closer had been perfect in his first 16 save opportunities of the season. But on Tuesday, the Blue Jays managed to end that streak, walking Duran off, 3-2, in the ninth inning.
“You know it’s going to happen at some point,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.
The first two batters Duran faced singled on ground-ball hits that found holes in the infield. The Jays used two pinch-runners, and a wild pitch brought the tying run home before Brandon Valenzuela hit an RBI single to end it.
“They just kind of got us in a bind at that point,” Mattingly said. “They run [Daulton] Varsho, and it’s hard to throw anybody out, really, with those guys. So, yeah, it’s one of those games.”
Duran entered the game after Bryson Stott drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth against Louis Varland. The Blue Jays pitching staff confounded the Phillies’ offense for most of the game, as they struck out 15 total times. But with two out in the ninth, Stott punched a double opposite-field to break the 1-1 stalemate.
It marked just the second earned run that Varland has given up this year.
The Phillies’ only other run came in the first inning, as they strung together doubles from Trea Turner and Brandon Marsh to take a 1-0 lead against starter Dylan Cease. The ball only left Turner’s bat at 64.4 mph, but he was aggressive against Toronto’s rookie right fielder Yohendrick Piñango and wound up on second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored easily when Marsh laced a slider to right field.
After that, though, the Phillies couldn’t generate much against Cease. He only allowed one more hit — a single — and walked one while striking out 11. Cease generated 29 swings-and-misses from Phillies hitters, including 10 on his fastball.
“Just the way his hand is, he hides the ball well,” Stott said. “So you have a split second to see kind of what pitch it is. Usually when they’re not kind of cupping their hand, you can see the pitcher’s fingers or whatever it is, so you kind of have an idea of what’s coming the whole way. But with him, it feels like halfway there, you pick it up, and then he’s throwing 99 [mph]. So it makes a lot of guys late, and his pitches are moving all over the place.”
Zack Wheeler held Toronto to one run over six innings. He gave up some hard contact early, but managed to escape a few jams. Wheeler allowed a leadoff single in the second inning, but immediately erased the runner with a double play. Kazuma Okamoto followed that up with a double and Wheeler then hit Andrés Giménez with a fastball to put two on. But he stranded both runners with a strikeout.
“It wasn’t the best, wasn’t the sharpest,” Wheeler said of his outing.
Wheeler said he found the mound tough and wasn’t able to push off like he normally does, so he had to rely on his upper body more.
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“I think that’s kind of why it wasn’t as sharp,” Wheeler said. “Velo’s down just a tick. So we kind of take those games and throw them out right away.”
Still, he held Toronto off the scoreboard until the sixth inning, when Wheeler’s cutter to Jesús Sánchez didn’t get high enough above the zone. Sánchez — who had also doubled in the third — sent it into the Phillies’ bullpen in right field for a solo shot that tied the game, 1-1.
“Cease was really good; I thought Zack was good,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, it was one of those games that’s just not going to be a bunch of runs going up, with a guy like Cease and Wheels. … I thought the at-bats were OK. He’s just one of those guys that you’re going to have your hands full when you start the game.”
Although Cease was cruising, since he was making his first start since being reinstated from the injured list, Toronto manager John Schneider lifted him after six innings and 93 pitches. Former Phillie Jeff Hoffman pitched a scoreless seventh and Mason Fluharty retired the side in order in the eighth, before Stott came through against Varland.
The Phillies finished with five total hits. Bryce Harper drew their only two walks.
“You always want to score, especially when you get guys on base,” Stott said. “But felt like when [Cease] needed a pitch, he got it, and sometimes you just run into guys who have that stuff that day, and he kept us off balance.”
Orion Kerkering took over for Wheeler in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning. He returned for the eighth to face Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and induced a line out. José Alvarado retired the next two batters before Duran entered in the ninth.
Fifty years ago, the All-Star Game came to Philadelphia as part of the bicentennial celebration. Larry Bowa was among five Phillies who represented the National League. With the Midsummer Classic returning to town next month, Bowa joined Phillies Extra to recall the atmosphere surrounding the 1976 game and being an All-Star at Veterans Stadium, as well as the state of the current Phillies. Watch here.
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