PHOENIX — If you didn’t stick it out past midnight for the end of this one, well, you probably made a good move.
The Phillies, who have played an entertaining and winning brand of ball since the All-Star break, looked a lot like the team that lost 62 games in the first half of the season in a 13-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night (see Instant Replay).
“Well, that was the first bad game we’ve had in a long time,” said interim manager Pete Mackanin, whose club is still 16-6 since the All-Star break. “It’s bound to happen to any team and tonight it happened to us.”
Phillies pitching was assaulted for 17 hits, including nine extra-base hits — three doubles, three triples and three home runs.
Starter Aaron Harang had a tough night. He gave up 12 hits and eight runs in 5⅓ innings. Included in those 12 hits were two homers, three doubles and two triples.
“He left a lot of pitches up and they got hit,” Mackanin said. “Once again, command, command, command. They have a good hitting team over there. You can’t make mistakes against them, especially in this park because the ball really jumps.”
Yes, it does.
Just ask Maikel Franco. (More on that in a second.)
Harang admitted to making some mistakes on the mound. In his opinion his biggest was allowing the Arizona hitters to get too comfortable.
“I didn’t establish the inside part of the strike zone in the early innings and when they start getting comfortable at the plate it makes for a long day,” said Harang, who has given up 28 hits in 15⅓ innings over three starts since coming off the disabled list.
Harang watched video of his work after the game and concluded that he made some good pitches.
“They even got hit hard,” he said. “They were seeing it good.”
Franco, the Phillies’ rookie third baseman, apparently did not see the ball well over the weekend in San Diego. He went 0 for 12 in the series, which the Phillies swept.
In this game, Franco got back on track. He stroked a double in the second inning off Arizona starter Rubby De La Rosa. Four innings later, Franco absolutely annihilated an 0-1 slider from De La Rosa. The ball jumped out of the ballpark to dead center. According to ESPN home run calculations, the ball traveled 455 feet, making it the longest homer by a Phillie since Jim Thome famously hit one into the walleye concession stand in Minneapolis on June 14, 2012.
“I remember that home run,” Mackanin said. “It was a bomb.”
Mackanin was happy Franco broke out of his mini-slump.
“I guess he was happy to get out of California,” Mackanin said. “Maybe he likes the desert.”
Franco knew he hit the home run well, but he even he seemed impressed that it went 455 feet.
“I was using my hands, staying through the ball and using the middle of the field,” he said. “I put a good swing on it.”
Franco is hitting .277 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs in 76 games. He is starting to be mentioned in a crowded field of National League Rookie of the Year candidates. Odubel Herrera is gaining notice, too.
“That’s not on my mind right now,” Franco said. “I’m just trying to do my job, do the best I can to help my teammates and whatever happens happens.”