Phillies fooled by knuckleball in late-series loss to San Diego originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Wednesday afternoon marked the first time in nearly seven years that the Phillies faced a knuckleballer — prior to the addition of every position player on the roster — and that was evident in a 5-2 series-ending loss to the Padres.
Matt Waldron kept the Phils off balance for seven innings, allowing Bryce Harper only a solo home run in the third. The only inning where they put multiple men on base was the bottom of the first inning. Nick Castellanos struck out and Brandon Marsh flied out to end that threat, with both expressing dissatisfaction to umpire Jeremie Rehak over called strikes that they felt floated out of the zone. One yes, the other no.
There haven’t been many knuckleballers in the major leagues in the past decade, and the Phillies hadn’t seen one since RA Dickey on August 30, 2017, a lineup that featured guys like Nick Williams and Pedro Florimon. Waldron came in having thrown his knuckleball three of every eight pitches, but did so nearly 50% of the time on Wednesday. He had little reason to give up. It fooled the Phillies, and the Harper homer came on a fastball. Harper added another solo shot in the eighth inning for the Phils’ only other run.
“When you face a guy with a knuckleball, you usually know what to do with it, but he’s a lot different than other guys because he has four or five other pitches that he throws,” Bryson Stott said. “He had good control of his knuckleball today.
“It’s tough. It’s your feeling of selling out on that first pitch and hoping it’s a cutter or four-sifter, and then he throws the good knuckleball and you hit it off the end (of the bat). He could mixing and matching really well and throwing his knuckleball when he needed it. He doesn’t tend to throw the knuckleball in the number of hitters and today he was.
‘I don’t even know if he knows what it’s going to do. You see it for so long, the laces don’t move. One hit Bohm and then he throws it in the same spot and into the other batter’s box. Just a tough pitch.”
Pitching for his wife and two children for the first time as a professional, Ranger Suarez got off to another strong start, allowing just a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in six innings. He ignored the call and escaped a first and third jam in the top of the sixth, ending his afternoon at 94 pitches. Suarez’s ERA barely budged, dropping from 1.77 to a major league-leading 1.75. He has allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of his 15 starts.
Orion Kerkering came in relief in the seventh inning and threw his first clunker in a month, hitting a batter and allowing a pair of two-out singles, the second of which produced San Diego’s go-ahead run. He owns a 1.69 ERA and remains one of the Phillies’ most trusted relievers.
Seranthony Dominguez gave up three runs in the eighth inning, all unearned due to an error by Alec Bohm. Two batters after Bohm’s bobble, Marsh sold into center field attempting a diving catch with the bases loaded and two outs, but the ball went just under his glove, resulting in a bases-clearing triple for Kyle Higashioka. (Does recently elected Johan Rojas make that play?)
The Phils were unable to get their 10th sweep in the last 19 series, but did win two of three against the Padres. They are 49-25 with an off-day Thursday and a three-game set looms this weekend against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the teams’ first meeting since the shocking result of the 2023 NLCS.
