SAN FRANCISCO _ When Bryce Harper crossed home plate after clocking the first of his two home runs Friday night, he pressed a finger to his lips and shushed the crowd at Oracle Park.
A day later, Jeff Samardzija essentially did the same thing to the Phillies.
For the second time in three games against the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies were an almost complete no-show. This time, in Saturday's 3-1 loss, Samardzija held them to two hits over eight innings, retiring 20 consecutive batters at one point.
So much for the Phillies building on momentum from their Harper-fueled nine-run outburst Friday night. Every time you think they're poised to finally bust out offensively, they disappear like the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog over San Francisco Bay.
Corey Dickerson opened a 1-0 lead with a two-out home run in the first inning. But after that, the Phillies didn't have another hit until Cesar Hernandez's one-out single in the eighth. They barely even hit any balls hard.
It marked the third time in four games that the offense was shut down. The Phillies were held to one hit through five innings Wednesday night by Arizona rookie Zac Gallen. They mustered one hit overall _ Hernandez's pinch single _ in Thursday night's 5-0 whitewash by the Giants. And then came Samardzija's mastery of them on Saturday.
Somehow, though, the game was within reach when Harper came to the plate as the tying run in the ninth inning.
Sean Rodriguez singled on a one-out flare to left field against Giants closer Will Smith. But Harper struck out, Rhys Hoskins worked a walk, and Dickerson swung through a slider for the final out.
The Phillies lost for the fourth time on a six-game road trip that wraps up Sunday night. They have dropped six of their last nine games and remain on the outside of the National League's jam-packed wild-card picture.
Over the last nine games, the Phillies are batting .227 (72-for-317). Hoskins is in a 2-for-24 funk. As a team, they've been unable to deliver big hits with men on base, the exception being Dickerson's three-run triple and Harper's three-run homer Friday night.
Velasquez allowed two home runs, bringing the league-leading total of long balls hit against the Phillies to 194 in 117 games. They remain on pace to shatter the single-season franchise mark of 221 homers allowed, which was set two years ago by the pitching staff of a 96-loss, last-place club.
But Velasquez wasn't to blame for this loss.
As a matter of fact, other than Evan Longoria's go-ahead two-run homer in the second inning and Kevin Pillar's solo shot to open the fifth, Velasquez held the Giants fairly well in check and continued his recent run of starts in which he has given the Phillies a chance to win.
Velasquez's best work came in the fifth inning. After giving up Pillar's homer, walking Austin Slater and throwing wide of second base to enable Samardzija to reach on a bunt, he got Brandon Belt to fly to shallow center field, Mike Yastrzemski to pop to third base and Buster Posey to fly out to right field to prevent the Giants from tacking on additional runs.
In his last eight starts, Velasquez has a 3.89 ERA. But he has only two wins during that stretch, further evidence of the fleeting Phillies offense that has been missing far more often than it has been present.
