PHILADELPHIA – For a moment early in Saturday night’s game, rookie Felix Reyes appeared to generate the spark the Philadelphia Phillies’ offense was seeking.
Homering in his first-career at-bat, Reyes took Chris Sale deep in the second inning to get Citizens Bank Park rocking.
That buzz was quickly silenced by the future Hall of Fame ace who went on to mow down the Phillies lineup retiring 16 of his 19 final batters faced handing Philadelphia its fourth consecutive game by a score of 3-1 Saturday night.
Reyes put the Phillies on the board taking a 95 mph letter-high fastball the other way into the right field seats for his first-career hit and home run. The 25-year-old became the sixth Phillie to homer in his first plate appearance and the first since Weston Wilson did so on August 9, 2023, the game Michael Lorenezen threw his no-hitter.
"It was great. Whenever you see a kid come up for the first time and hit a home run in his first at-bat it gives you a lot of energy in the dugout for sure. Unfortunately, we didn't do much after that. But this kid could hit," Thomson said postgame.
After the home run, the Phillies mustered just three hits over the final seven innings with singles from Kyle Schwarber, Edmundo Sosa and Alec Bohm never pushing a runner into scoring position.
The Phillies' bats continue to struggles against left-handed non-opener starting pitchers continued hitting just .155 against starting southpaws who are not openers with 47 strikeouts this season.
"It's tough to tell against a pitcher like Sale," Thomson said when asked if he noticed a different approach against lefty starters.
"Sale is tough. It's the other guys that can concern you a little bit. We have to use the field, work counts, get pitch counts up, but Sale was really good tonight."
With the loss, the Phillies dropped to 5-9 at home this season, their worst mark at their friendly confines since the 2020 COVID season where they started 6-8 through the first 14 games at home.
That was all the run support Sale needed as he cruised through seven strong innings retiring 16 of his 19 final batters faced allowing just five hits and one run while racking up seven strikeouts.
Cristopher Sanchez was saddled with the tough-luck loss after tossing six innings, allowing three unearned runs on eight hits, a walk and eight strikeouts. Of the eight hits surrendered, only four of them were classified as hard hit with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher.
"He was great. The fastball command was great, the changeup was great. I think the most swing and miss of the year. Higher strike percentage. He was outstanding."
All three runs came in to score with two outs after second baseman Edmundo Sosa booted a ball that he charged near the bag. The Braves tied it on a swinging bunt off the bat of Austin Riley and then a bloop two-run single from Mauricio Dubón made it 3-1.
"Yeah, the third inning again. It's frustrating. We have to keep fighting. Sosa, I feel bad for him. He feels terrible. I think he didn't think he had as much time as he did," Thomson said. "We have to play better."
That was all the run support Sale needed cruising through seven strong innings allowing just five hits and one run while racking up seven strikeouts.
The Phillies look to salavage the series with another national game on Sunday Night Baseball. Rookie right-hander Andrew Painter (1-0, 3.77 ERA) takes on fellow righty Grant Holmes (1-1, 3.32 ERA) with first pitch scheduled for 7:20 p.m.
