New-look batting order provides little relief for Phillies, who blow a four-run lead in 5-4 loss to Diamondbacks

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 10, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — In search of relief from a 20-inning scoreless drought, the Phillies eyed the composition of their opponent’s bullpen Friday and did something unusual.

They bunched together four left-handed hitters.

It wasn’t ideal, manager Rob Thomson conceded. But because the Diamondbacks lack a lefty reliever, he figured it just might work, at least temporarily. Like maybe for three games.

Try four batters.

The Phillies busted out for four runs in the first inning, powered by momentary cleanup hitter Brandon Marsh’s three-run homer. But they got four hits the rest of the game, struck out 16 times, and turned the four-run lead into a series-opening 5-4 loss.

So, instead of not scoring any runs at all in a span of 20 innings, the Phillies have scored runs in exactly one of their last 29 innings.

All together now: Gross.

Justin Crawford, the No. 9-hitting rookie, provided a glimmer of hope in the ninth inning, narrowly missing his first career homer and instead racing to third base for a two-out triple when the ball hit off the top of the right-field wall.

But Trea Turner flew out to left field to end the game and send 41,683 paying customers to the exits amid mild boos after the Phillies lost their third consecutive game to slide back under .500 at 6-7.

Jesús Luzardo breezed for four innings before giving up five runs in the fifth. Arizona sent nine batters to the plate, scoring on back-to-back singles by Ketel Marte and Ildemaro Vargas and taking the lead on James McCann’s two-run double.

Don’t pin the loss on Luzardo, though.

Thomson elevated Marsh to the cleanup spot behind Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper and in front of Bryson Stott, an alignment that only works because of the all-righty Arizona bullpen.

And after Turner opened the game with a single and Schwarber walked, Harper banged an RBI double and Marsh launched a ball into the left-field seats for a cathartic 4-0 lead.

Then came the flood of strikeouts. Everyone in the lineup struck out at least once. Alec Bohm, the erstwhile cleanup hitter who went in Marsh’s typical No. 7 spot, fanned three times. Marsh struck out three times, too.

It was the most strikeouts in a game for the Phillies since opening day last season, when they struck out 19 times in a 10-inning victory.

Staked to the early lead, Luzardo didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning. He walked two batters, struck out six, didn’t permit a runner to advance beyond second base, and threw only 57 pitches.

He was in total control.

Until he wasn’t.

It all unraveled for Luzardo in the fifth inning. The Diamondbacks loaded the bases on a leadoff single, a walk, and a bunt single before Marte drove in two runs with a single to left field. Vargas cut the margin to 4-3 with a single to left field.

Luzardo could still see his way out of the inning with a lead after striking out Geraldo Perdomo. But McCann’s double split the gap in right-center and went to the wall to allow the tying and go-ahead runs to score.