Odúbel Herrera drifted back, all the way back, and when he could go no further, he timed his jump just so, extended his glove, and brought down the ball. Herrera robbed a home run, preserved a one-run lead, and for a moment in the sixth inning Wednesday night, it seemed the Phillies might actually win a game with their defense.
And then the worst defensive team in the majors reverted to its usual ways.
The Phillies were unable to turn a double play, catcher Andrew Knapp couldn’t block a wayward fastball from reliever Sam Coonrod, and the Marlins scored three runs in the eighth inning to emerge with a 4-2 victory in Miami, the Phillies’ eighth loss in 12 games.
It has become a familiar refrain. The Phillies don’t make enough plays in the field and don’t score enough runs to cover their mistakes, especially with Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Didi Gregorius — a middle-of-the-order trio that accounts for roughly 33% of the team’s offense, according to runs created — sidelined by nagging injuries that haven’t healed as quickly as everyone hoped.
The Phillies lost for the seventh time in 10 games in Miami and missed a chance to get back to the .500 mark. Instead, they are 24-26.
Herrera’s foiling of Isan Díaz’s bid to tie the game came with the Phillies clinging to a 2-1 lead. It shouldn’t have been that close. The Phillies went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position, left eight on base, and wasted opportunities to jump to a big lead early against Marlins starter Nick Neidert.
Coonrod inherited that one-run lead and gave up a leadoff single to Corey Dickerson. Adam Duvall rolled a grounder that should have been a double play, but the Phillies settled only for a force at second. After Jorge Alfaro grounded out, Coonrod walked Díaz.
Knapp was charged with a passed ball, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to move into scoring position before Jon Berti worked an eight-pitch at-bat, fouling off four two-strike pitches, and delivered a two-run single to right field.
The Phillies went down in order in the ninth inning against Marlins closer Yimi Garcia.
If ever the Phillies’ depleted offense was going to bust out in this series, it figured to come against Neidert, a rotation fill-in who was making his first start in 36 days. The Phillies had Neidert on the ropes, too, in the third inning, but let him off the hook with poor situational hitting.
With the bases loaded and one out, Brad Miller worked an eight-pitch walk on a slider that appeared to clip the upper outside corner of the strike zone to force in a run. But Rhys Hoskins hit a grounder to first base that resulted in Nola getting cut down at the plate before Herrera struck out on three pitches to extinguish a potentially big inning.
The Marlins tied it in a 30-pitch third inning for Nola. His biggest mistake was a two-out walk of Magneuris Sierra to keep the inning alive for Jesús Aguilar. Nola made a good two-strike pitch, a change-up in on the hands, that Aguilar muscled into center field for an RBI single.
