Drew Smyly falters as Phillies drop lopsided series finale to lowly White Sox, 10-5

Maikel Franco came to Citizens Bank Park Sunday morning with a suitcase packed for seven days out west. He has been a major-leaguer -- a constant presence on the Phillies roster -- for the last five seasons. But the current regime, the regime that did not sign him or develop him in the minor leagues, no longer believed he could bring value.

So they dropped Franco -- and his suitcase -- to the minor leagues a few hours before a listless, 10-5 loss to the White Sox and watched their decision be put to the test.

The Phillies scored twice in the sixth inning and loaded the bases with no outs for the pitcher’s spot in the lineup when the White Sox summoned lefthanded reliever Aaron Bummer. A day earlier, Franco may have been the pinch hitter. But he has to be in Allentown within 72 hours.

Manager Gabe Kapler called on Sean Rodriguez, the veteran utility player the Phillies kept on their roster over Franco as the lone righthanded bat for the bench. Rodriguez can play multiple positions and has had better success this season against lefthanded pitching. But two pitches later, the rally was over. Rodriguez grounded into a double play to end the sixth. That was the closest the Phillies would get.

“Big play in the game,” Kapler said. “Nobody is more frustrated in that than Sean.”

The Phillies lost two of three this weekend to the White Sox, who entered the weekend with one win in their last nine and are 20 games out of first place in the American League Central. This was a series for the Phillies to win. Instead, they lost Friday with Roman Quinn on the mound and Vince Velasquez in left field and were thumped on Sunday.

“We’re not getting enough hits in big spots. We’re not making enough pitches,” Kapler said. “We’re not doing enough collectively to win baseball games the last three days. We’re a better team than this.”

Rodriguez’s double play marked the fifth time this weekend that the Phillies had failed to score with the bases loaded. They went 5-for-26 with runners in scoring position in the three games and left 27 runners on base. They failed to get the big hits. Rodriguez was not alone.

“Man, I punched out against Bummer. He’s pretty nasty,” Bryce Harper said of his at-bat against the White Sox reliever on Friday night. “Just a tough at-bat. He got me and J.T. back-to-back. Just tough at-bats. Of course, we have to get the job done and find any way to scratch and claw to get that done. Some pretty tough at-bats.”

The sixth-inning rally was needed after Drew Smyly allowed five runs in five innings as he was roughed up for the first time in three starts since joining the Phillies. Smyly was perfect in every inning except the second, which was punctuated by a Leury Garcia grand slam. The left-hander retired all 12 batters he faced in his other four innings.

“This one stings because I feel like I was one or two pitches away from a much different outcome,” Smyly said. “I felt really good. Even the second inning, I felt like I was making good pitches ... Tough game. High-stakes game. I have to be better right there with the bases loaded. It’s happened to me a few times this season. I have to bear down and make a pitch and keep it close. If I make a good pitch, it’s still 1-0 and maybe I get on a roll and it’s a different game. It definitely stings.”

Smyly’s one bad inning was enough to do the Phillies in. Mike Morin, who joined the Phillies the same weekend as Smyly, allowed four runs in two innings of relief to put the game out of reach.

But there was a moment Sunday that felt like the Phillies were ready to climb out of a five-run hole. By then, Franco was long gone from Citizens Bank Park. His suitcase was no longer ticketed for Arizona and San Francisco. The Phillies will try to contend for a wild card without their longtime third baseman. And in situations like Sunday’s, they will hope the players they kept over Franco can come through in key spots.

“Just keep playing Phillie baseball. Keep being the same team,” Harper said. “Go out there and not really worry about what happened today. Of course, we lost the series, and you never want to do that. But just go into Arizona and turn the page as quick as possible.”