MLB: Philadelphia Phillies Played ‘Clean’ In Return Amidst Loss Against New York Yankees

Several challenges have faced the MLB season this year caused by the global pandemic. The Philadelphia Phillies are among the affected teams as they recently returned from a layoff caused by additional coronavirus testing. Manager Joe Girardi saw their return match with optimism despite a 3-6 defeat against the New York Yankees.

It has been a hot stretch for the Yankees as they’ve continuously sent multiple home runs against their opponents in the past few games. Their previous matchup against the Boston Red Sox features an impressive display from Aaron Judge where he let loose two big homers that propelled them to a 9-7 victory.

In Phillies’ recent matchup against the Yankees, several players stepped up for the high-powered offense of New York. Home runs from DJ LeMaheiu and Brett Gardner placed the Yankees ahead early in the game and a three-run homer from Gio Urshela sealed the deal for New York.

"It seems like the deck is stacked against us," Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta said by way of ESPN.

This served as the first game back for the Phillies and their first action on the field since July 26.

"But that doesn't matter. This is a situation that's been difficult for every team to deal with," Arrieta added.

The Phillies were hit with positive cases in their COVID-19 testing and halted their activities as a precautionary measure.

"After we were hit by this the first time, we handled it really well," Arrieta added.

Despite the loss in their recent matchup, health and safety remain as one of the priorities of the team as they aim to continue to ensure to take care of everyone’s welfare.

"We've been following the protocols and we had two false positives which kind of set us back a little bit, but none of the players testing positive in the past several weeks, it just shows that we're doing everything we can to make sure our guys stay healthy," Arrieta shared.

It has been a difficult situation but that the Phillies will continue playing while following the necessary protocol. In addition to this, Girardi also mentioned that the team played well in their first game back and is looking for better things moving forward.

"I thought our at-bats were really good tonight," Girardi said.

"Considering we haven't played in a while, I thought we played a pretty clean game. I thought we swung the bats well. I thought for the most part we pitched pretty well. So I hate to lose, but considering what we've been through, I thought our guys played a pretty good game," Girardi added.

It will be interesting to see if the teams can maintain playing at a high level despite the health crisis ongoing across the world.