‘Weird’ team-wide hitting funk continues as Phillies manage three hits and lose series vs. the Braves
The Phillies’ bats were cooled by Braves' Spencer Schwellenbach. By winning two of three games in this series, the Braves now sit six games behind the Phillies in the NL East race.
ATLANTA — If it’s August in the capital of Georgia, it’s usually scorching hot. Not this week. It reached only about 85 degrees during the Phillies’ visit, unseasonably comfortable. But the locals expect the heat will soon be turned up again.
Can the same be said for the state of the National League East?
The Phillies came here with a seven-game lead over the broken-down Braves. They lost two of three games, including a 3-2 decision in the finale Thursday night. They scored a total of six runs in the series. They struck out 32 times. The top of the order — Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper — went 2-for-33.
» READ MORE: No one is on a 100-win pace. What’s happened to the super teams, and whose struggles will pay off?
Yet they left with a six-game edge with 35 games left — and three more days crossed off on the calendar.
“I think that’s the outlook, right?” Schwarber said. “Everything can feel like it’s a lot more when you feel like you want to be winning baseball games and you feel like you want to be performing well. At the end of the day, there’s still a lead. There’s still a thing that we’ve got to reach out and hold on to, and that’s getting the division title and getting in the postseason.”
But there’s something unsettling about all of this. Save for a two-batter uprising in the seventh inning, the Phillies’ bats were cooled by Spencer Schwellenbach, the lesser-known (and healthier) Spencer in the Braves’ starting rotation.
If it was one game, fine. But that’s how it went for the entire series, and if we’re being truthful, since the All-Star break. The Phillies have lost 21 of their last 34 games. Since July 12, only the White Sox and Mariners have played worse. One of those teams is on a historic losing pace; the other just fired its manager.
And here were the Phillies, held to five hits in a 3-1 loss Tuesday night, then scratching across just enough runs in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Wednesday before coming up with three hits and striking out 14 times in the third game. Schwellenbach retired 18 batters in a row at one point.
Not even injured Braves ace Spencer Strider could look better.
“It’s kind of weird that we’re all struggling at the same time,” Turner said after grounding into a double play with the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the eighth inning to cap an 0-for-11 series. “Normally, when you have a good lineup, some guys [struggle] here or there. But it’s kind of weird that a lot of us are there.”
» READ MORE: Don’t tell John Middleton the Phillies’ skid was common: It’s time ‘to start playing like it’s May or June’
And frustration is everywhere. The latest demonstration: Turner slammed his helmet after hitting a foul pop in the third inning.
“I felt like that was the one pitch I got that whole at-bat to hit,” Turner said. “I felt like that was the mistake. I just got jammed.”
The Phillies had opportunities in the seventh and eighth innings. Trailing 3-1 with two out in the seventh, Bryson Stott singled on a hard-hit comebacker to the mound. J.T. Realmuto split the gap in right-center field for an RBI double to close the gap to one run and knock out Schwellenbach.
But reliever Pierce Johnson got strikeout-prone Brandon Marsh to chase a dirt-diving curveball to leave the tying run in scoring position, then stayed in the game and Houdini’d his way around back-to-back one-out walks by getting Turner to ground into an around-the-horn double play in the eighth.
It all left starter Cristopher Sánchez with little margin for errors, such as his inability to make a play on Adam Duvall’s grounder to his left in the second inning. It went for an infield hit, and with two out, Gio Urshela stroked a game-tying ground-rule double.
The Braves took the lead in the third inning on Matt Olson’s double over right fielder Nick Castellanos’ outstretched glove. And Duvall banged a leadoff homer in the sixth to open a 3-1 lead that felt so much larger.
» READ MORE: Austin Hays expected to reclaim Phillies’ primary left field job as he nears his return from injury
Especially when Schwarber (1-for-10), Turner, and Harper (1-for-12) combine for two hits, two walks, and 14 strikeouts in three games.
“We’re waiting for them to get going,” manager Rob Thomson said. “And they will. We’ll do some work [Friday] in Kansas City, and see if we can knock it out.”
Preferably before the Phillies see the Braves again next week at Citizens Bank Park. Because although a six-game lead is still as pleasant as a mid-80s summer day in Atlanta, there’s still time for things to get uncomfortable before autumn.
“I don’t think it’s anything we’re necessarily doing wrong,” Turner said. “We’re preparing. We’re doing all the stuff we normally do. We’re having fun. We’ve got a good mindset. We’re just not clicking.
“It’s starting to get to that point in the season where it’s a play-well-or go-home type deal. I don’t think we’re under any stress or pressure. More so, we want to play well. We know what we’re capable of, and we expect it out of ourselves.”