Phillies

Mick Abel Walks Five in Game 1 Loss to Padres

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Jul 2nd, 2025 · 5:33 PM EDT

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Mick Abel didn’t get through the second inning on Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, walking five batters and allowing five earned runs in a disastrous start in game one of the Phillies doubleheader vs. the Padres.

Abel’s day started off strong, striking out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill in a scoreless first inning. He struck out Gavin Sheets to start the second inning, and everything immediately unraveled after that.

• Xander Bogaerts Walk
• Jake Cronenworth Single
• Trenton Brooks Flyout
• Elias Diaz Walk
• Fernando Tatis Jr. Walk
• Jackson Merrill Walk

Both of the walks to Tatis and Merrill, who Abel struck out in the first inning, came with the bases loaded. It’s the first time since 1998 that a Phillies starter walked back to back batters with the bases loaded. Abel faced Manny Machado following the back-to-back-to-back walks, who ripped a bases-clearing, 3-run double, knocking Abel out of the game.

“Very few walks in his first couple of outings, but they’ve piled up here as of late. We’ve gotta fix it”

– Rob Thomson on Mick Abel, after walking five batters in 1.2 innings pic.twitter.com/6SAd7AeqvO

— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) July 2, 2025

“I think my command definitely got away from me. I tried to do too much. I got into some leverage counts, and was trying too hard to make the pitches, if that makes sense…I had all the confidence that I could make the pitches…sometimes trying to hard doesn’t work in your favor” – Mick Abel

Do you want a positive from today’s game? The Phillies got 7.1 extremely solid innings out of a combination of Max Lazar, Taijuan Walker, Seth Johnson, and Daniel Robert. They allowed just one run and three hits while striking out four.

Seth Johnson, the 27th-man for today’s doubleheader, looked the best out of all of them. Johnson touched 99.8 at one point, throwing two shutout innings and not allowing a hit. The Phillies may have a decision to make after an outing like that.

The Phillies offense tried to slowly climb back into it. Kyle Schwarber’s 26th home run of the season made it 6-1 in the 6th. Edmundo Sosa tripled in the 7th, making it 6-2, then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-3. A Brandon Marsh pinch-hit single brought the Phillies within two.

Marsh tried to stretch out a Trea Turner 9th inning single, and was out by three steps…until he wasn’t. It was a horrific baserunning decision, but luckily for the Phillies, Machado missed the tag on Marsh. Kyle Schwarber had the chance to win it with a walkoff 3-run home run, or just keep the game going, but Robert Suarez got him hacking on a fastball nearly a foot over his head.

Game 2 kicks off in around 90 minutes. Cristopher Sanchez will get the start against Dylan Cease. Rob Thomson said the Phillies will not have a fresh arm for tonight’s game after using four relievers this afternoon.