PHILADELPHIA _ The out-of-town scoreboard flickered early Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park to update the score from Atlanta after Washington took a fast lead over the first-place Braves. And then Cesar Hernandez hammered the very next pitch into the right-field seats for a leadoff homer.
It seemed like the perfect start for the Phillies in their pursuit of an unlikely postseason berth. Instead, it was just the perfect start to a deflating afternoon where a 6-4 loss to the Marlins cast even more doubt on the team's chances to play into October. The Phillies have just 14 games left and a playoff berth is hard to fathom.
Hernandez's homer failed to trigger an onslaught as the Phillies would not score again until the seventh inning. Jose Urena tamed them for five innings and the Phillies finished with just six hits against five pitchers. The Marlins erased the Phils' early lead with a two-run homer in the fourth by Peter O'Brien off Nick Pivetta, who allowed three runs in five innings.
Gabe Kapler lifted Pivetta after just 80 pitches as he has used an aggressive hook this month with the season waning and an expanded roster full of relievers. But the bullpen burnt him on Sunday. Luis Garcia allowed three runs in the sixth and the pitcher was booed as his third run crossed on a wild pitch. By then, it felt like an eternity since Hernandez answered the news from Atlanta with a starting hit. And it felt even more unlikely that the Phillies could pull off the unlikely this month.
