Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies are hoping that this is rock bottom.
It’s all they can do at this point. It’s one thing to lose to good teams on the road during a tough stretch of games. It’s something else entirely to get shutout at home by the last place Miami Marlins.
Yet here we are.
The Phillies mustered all of four hits off Miami starter Valente Bellozo, a soft-tossing rookie pitcher making just his fifth-career start. Meanwhile, Taijuan Walker, making his first start since mid-June, looked shaky early, allowing three runs in the first three innings.
The first one would have been enough for the Marlins, who blanked the Phillies 5-0 on Tuesday night.
The Phillies have now lost four straight and 16-of-23 since the All-Star break. Only the Chicago White Sox (2-20) have a worse record than the Phillies since the break.
Manager Rob Thomson has been reluctant to amend his lineup to this point. But with the exception of a few guys, there have been prolonged stretches of bad at bats.
Nobody hit well on Tuesday.
Nick Castellanos had probably the best swing of the night for the Phillies hitting a ground-rule double down the right field line, but even that turned out to be a bit of bad luck for the Phillies, as Alec Bohm, who walked earlier in the fourth inning, had to stop at third base because the ball went out of play, when he would have otherwise easily scored. Both runners were stranded when J.T. Realmuto followed with a flyout to right field.
Bryson Stott didn’t get a hit but had some good at bats and hit a couple of balls deep to the outfield. Other than that, the rest of the lineup was terrible.
Asked if maybe it was time to go against the grain and change things up, Thomson said, “We’re getting close. We’ll see tomorrow.”
At the top of his list has to be Brandon Marsh, who looks completely lost when he’s at the plate. He was 0-for-3 and struck out twice. Marsh has now struck out 62 times in his 144 at bats (43.1 %) since coming back from a hamstring injury on June 16. He is hitting just .201 in that time.
“He needs to make more contact, for sure,” Thomson said, choosing not to elaborate further.
Marsh isn’t alone. Trea Turner continues to scuffle. He was 0-for-4 on Tuesday and is now 10-for-70 (.143) in his last 16 games. Turner also booted an easy groundball to pick up his 13th error of the season.
Walker (3-4), had a rough first inning, throwing 34 pitches. He walked two batters and gave up two bloop singles that yielded two runs.
He settled down from there. He had a 1-2-3 second inning on just eight pitches. He gave up a solo homer to Jake Burger in the third on a 3-2 fastball. It was Burger’s 10th homer in his last 14 games. He has homered in four straight. Aside from that, he had one more walk and allowed one more hit, before his night ended after four innings and 76 pitches.
Walker was on a pitch count, so the short outing was expected, but he felt like even though he was O.K. after the first inning, overall, he could have been better.
“It was probably just some jitters,” he said. “I was amped up. Excited to just get my sights back with my pitches.”
Still, small victories aside, the frustration level is mounting in the clubhouse, but not to the point where doubt is creeping in.
“I think ‘worry’ is the wrong kind of word,” said Kyle Schwarber, who has now gone without a hit in four straight games. “If you are worried about where you are at, that’s not a good thing. (As for) frustration, you can have frustration. That’s a natural thing to have.”
Asked if he felt there needs to be a change in the way things are done right now – whether it’s a lineup change or a roster move to try to shake off the malaise, Schwarber was adamant that nothing needs to change and that everything is on the players.
“No, not at all,” he said. “The group that we have is one of the most talented groups I’ve been around and some of the best dudes I’ve been around. … We’ve assembled a really good team and a bunch of good dudes too.
“There’s frustration, but you’re going to see us come together and we’re going to figure this thing out. I promise we’ll be better for it at the end.”
RANGER UPDATE
Ranger Suarez threw a combination bullpen session and live batting practice before the game. He threw a combined 60 pitches. The Phillies were happy with where he’s at.
Thomson said the next step is to do another one of those combinations on Sunday. He said they hadn’t decided yet if it will be here in Philadelphia or at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The hope is that he could then return to the rotation by next weekend in Kansas City, but that’s far from certain at the moment.
In other roster news, RHP Nick Nelson went unclaimed on waivers and was optioned back to Lehigh Valley.
ON DECK
The Phillies will wrap up a short two-game series with the Marlins on Wednesday. RHP Tyler Phillips (4-1, 4.83 ERA) will start for Philadelphia. Miami RHP Edward Cabrera (2-3, 5.20) will oppose him.
