Nick Pivetta tossed a complete game Saturday. (Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire)
Following a week of poor pitching and good hitting on the West Coast, the Philadelphia Phillies pulled off a series win over the Cincinnati Reds in opposite fashion, as the pitching showed up but the bats went relatively quiet.
After winning the first two games behind the arms of Zach Eflin and Nick Pivetta, the team fell just short of their third series sweep of the season as they faltered late in Sunday’s game.
Here are three numbers that tell more of the story from these games and what they mean for the Phillies moving forward:
5: Combined number of hits by Rhys Hoskins, Maikel Franco, Cesar Hernandez, and Scott Kingery
The Phillies nearly sweeping a series in which half of their everyday lineup is, well, impressive. This quartet combined for .135 average and only one extra base hit and were a major reason the offense only mustered up 11 runs and 17 hits the entire series.
For three of these hitters, this is indicative of slumps of varying lengths. Since starting the year at a blistering rate, Hoskins has cooled down mightily:
Hoskins in his first 34 games:
.302/.425/.651, 21 XBH, 11 HR, 24 BB, 41 K30 games since:
.217/.336/.330, 7 XBH, 2 HR, 20 BB, 29 K— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) June 10, 2019
Franco’s hot streak was much shorter lived than Hoskins’ and has had what is likely the toughest stretch of career since:
Franco in his first 21 games:
.274/.372/.575, 10 XBH, 6 HR, 12 BB, 7 K41 games since:
.173/.203/.331, 9 XBH, 3 HR, 6 BB, 21 K— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) June 10, 2019
Hernandez, who started the year cold, heated up in late April into May before hitting struggles again the last couple weeks:
Hernandez in his first 47 games:
.309/.372/.469, 18 XBH, 4 HR, 17 BB, 26 K17 game since:
.177/.227/.355, 6 XBH, 2 HR, 2 BB, 7 K— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) June 10, 2019
A cold stretch was expected for Scott Kingery, who has been excellent this year. Despite having only one hit in the series, he is still hitting to a solid .310/.349/.530 line. With the injuries continuing to pile up for the Phillies, it is imperative for Kingery to let this series be nothing more than a hiccup and avoid a slump similar to the ones that plagued him for much of last season.
2.04: ERA for Phillies starters in this series
Phillies pitching struggled on the road trip last week, and despite a minor implosion in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game, they pitched extremely well against Cincinnati.  The highlight, of course, was Nick Pivetta’s complete game on Saturday, the first of his career. Zach Eflin and Aaron Nola were both solid in their outings, as Eflin cruised through 6.1 after allowing a home run to Joey Votto in the first inning, and Nola was strong up until the seventh, when he allowed a couple of baserunners who scored after he was removed from the game.
One: The number of home runs that Phillies pitching allowed during this series
It’s no coincidence that the starter’s ERA was so low in this series. After allowing a whopping 15 home runs on the 6-game road trip, Phillies pitchers kept the ball in the ballpark against the Reds. Phillies pitching still boasts the worst HR/9 in the National League (1.57), and continuing to decrease this number will be key as the ball only carries further in the warm summer months.
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