Phils' bats blanked again as NL Wild Card race tightens
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PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper blooped a single into shallow right-center field in the sixth inning on Friday night. He reached first base, clapped once, then turned toward his teammates in the dugout.
He gestured to them.
“Let’s go.”
But the Phillies weren’t going anywhere. They lost to the Rays at Citizens Bank Park, 2-0, to make a seemingly impossible collapse seem a little more possible. The Phils have lost three consecutive games and 13 of their last 21 to turn the final two games into a last-ditch attempt to clinch an NL Wild Card spot. The Phillies (87-73) left the Bank needing any combination of two Phillies wins and Diamondbacks losses to get them into the postseason.
They hoped to clinch on Friday with a victory and an Arizona loss.
Instead, they will need to win on Saturday. It will be a bullpen game with left-hander Jesús Luzardo on the injured list.
But if the Phillies can’t win and the Diamondbacks can’t lose, the Phillies will start Zack Wheeler in the regular-season finale on Sunday. It’s less than ideal, of course. The Phillies want Wheeler to start Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday, but those plans will be junked if he pitches.
The Rays scored once in the first and once in the second to take a 2-0 lead. The tension in the crowd was palpable as fans booed inning-ending strikeouts in the third from Trea Turner and the fourth from Brandon Marsh.
Harper’s single in the sixth put runners on first and second with no outs. They did not score.
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly treated this game like a postseason game. He pinch-hit Bryan De La Cruz for Marsh against Rays left-hander Cam Booser in the sixth. Marsh has been one of baseball’s worst hitters since the All-Star break.
Mattingly then asked closer Jhoan Duran to pitch the eighth inning with a two-run deficit, showing everybody how desperate the Phillies were to keep this game close.
Duran did his job. Once again, the Phillies’ offense did not.
They have scored three or fewer runs in nine of their last 12 games.