Phils want to add offense at Deadline, but current players need to get hot

PHILADELPHIA -- Seven games won’t change the Phillies’ desires before the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, but they are 2-5 since the All-Star break following Friday night’s 1-0 loss to the Yankees at Citizens Bank Park.

It’s not what they want.

“We’d definitely like to be playing better baseball,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said.

The Phillies have made physical and mental errors in recent days, but Friday night they were held to one or zero runs for the fourth time since the break and an MLB-high-tying 24th time this season. They were just two games behind the Braves in the National League East at the All-Star break, but they have lost 3 1/2 games to Atlanta in the standings since.

“I just think we're in a little bit of a lull right now,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “It's part of the season. Don't want to read too much into it.”

Not too many teams would have hit Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler on Friday night. He allowed three hits and struck out 12 batters in 7 1/3 scoreless innings. He got 16 swings and misses, including four on his four-seam fastball (which touched 99.7 mph) and eight on his cutter.

Schlittler is 10-6 with a 2.07 ERA this season, which is the second-best ERA in MLB behind Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski. He might be the favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award.

"He bullies you a little bit with the fastball on both sides,” Mattingly said. “I don't think this guy's probably getting hit hard very often.”

“It's just really good,” Realmuto said about Schlittler’s fastball. “I think it has good late life. I only saw [two] two-seams, but the four-seam has a lot of carry, so guys swing under it a lot. The way he releases it, he almost kind of lulls you to sleep with his windup. And then it's 100, and it almost plays harder than it even is."

But the Phillies haven’t made it easy for themselves, no matter who is pitching. They finished the game with an MLB-worst .302 on-base percentage. It’s their lowest mark since 2016, when they had a .301 on-base percentage, and it’s tied for the 12th-lowest on-base percentage in franchise history.

It’s .278 since the break.

It’s a concern for a team that hopes to make a deep run in the postseason, when scoring is at a premium. The Phillies are looking for offense before the Trade Deadline -- they’re also looking for starting pitching and bullpen help -- but truth be told, unless they acquire a star, the Phillies will need the players they’ve already got to get going offensively.

“I think we're just a little inconsistent right now throughout the lineup,” Realmuto said. “We’re not scoring enough runs, to be quite frank, and then our defense has scuffled a little bit.”

The Phillies wasted another solid start from left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who allowed three hits, one run and one walk in seven innings. He struck out nine. He has a 1.94 ERA in his past 13 starts.

“Two-and-five is not how we want to start the second half,” Luzardo said. “I think we all know that. I don't think it’s anything specific. I think it's more so just kicking it back into high gear and playing the brand of baseball that we were playing before the break.”

On Saturday, the Phillies will turn to right-hander Brian Keller, who will make his MLB debut either as a starter or as a bulk-innings guy following an opener.