PHOENIX -- With seven weeks left in the season, Joe Girardi doesn’t care to hear that the Phillies’ schedule is softer than a roll of Charmin.
Now you know why.
Never mind that the Arizona Diamondbacks have the worst record in the National League. Or that their pitching staff owns the highest ERA in the league. Or that they are on pace for 110 losses. In the opener of a three-game series here Tuesday night, they muted the Phillies’ bats in a 3-2 victory before an announced crowd of only 7,796 in the desert.
Quiet doesn’t begin to describe the offense. The Phillies got only three hits, one after the third inning. Their first run came on a Bryce Harper homer. Otherwise, the top five batters in the order -- Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, Harper, Didi Gregorius and Andrew McCutchen -- combined to go 2-for-18 with two walks and five strikeouts.
The loss, coupled with the Atlanta Braves’ 2-0 victory in Miami, dropped the Phillies to 2 1/2 games out of first place in the National League East. It should be a good thing that they face the 39-81 Diamondbacks twice more this week and in six of the next 11 games but, well, Girardi knows better than to count on that.
“I don’t want to hear about the schedule,” Girardi said. “No more.”
Arizona’s Josh VanMeter broke a tie in the sixth inning with a two-run homer off starter Kyle Gibson that barely cleared the wall in right field. The score remained 3-1 until the ninth inning when Brad Miller doubled, Travis Jankowski walked and Miller scored on a wild pitch with the Phillies down to their last strike.
With the tying run in scoring position, pinch-hitter Alec Bohm flew out to shallow left field to end the threat and leave the tying run on second base.
The lack of offense was a continuation of a week-long, nearly team-wide funk. The Phillies have scored two runs or fewer in five of their last seven games. Segura (1-for-20), Realmuto (4-for-26), McCutchen (2-for-22) and Miller (5-for-31) are all struggling. And although Rhys Hoskins had what Girardi described as “the most positive day we’ve had” in his recovery from a groin injury, it’s unlikely he will come off the injured list until at least Thursday.
“I think we’re getting in some decent counts and getting some decent swings,” Girardi said. “It’s frustrating for guys. We’ve got to find a way to string hits together. We have to be able to score more than one or two runs a night.”
Gibson’s gaffe
Given the lack of support, Gibson had to be nearly perfect. He wasn’t. But he got away with giving up leadoff hits in the first and third innings and creating a two-out, two-on spot in the second.
The Diamondbacks finally got to him in the fifth inning when Daulton Varsho lined a leadoff double and scored the tying run on Josh Rojas’ double. They took the lead in the sixth when Gibson issued a two-out walk to Christian Walker and left a slider over the plate to VanMeter.
In four appearances since coming over in the trade-deadline deal with Texas, Gibson has allowed 12 earned runs in 23 innings for a 4.70 ERA.
Fan appreciation
The Phillies thought they recorded the final out of the bottom of the eighth inning when a fan appeared to interfere with McCutchen’s ability to catch a foul pop in left field. But after a replay review conducted while the fan was being ejected from Chase Field, interference wasn’t called.
David Peralta got another chance only to strike out against reliever J.D. Hammer.
A Bryce blast
With two out in the first inning, Arizona starter Taylor Widener walked Harper and went after Gregorius, a sound strategy after falling behind in the count to the Phillies’ hottest hitter in the midst of an MVP push.
But Harper wouldn’t be walked in the third inning.
Faced with the same situation -- two out, nobody on, down in the count — Widener elevated an inside fastball that was neither high nor inside enough. Harper went up to get it and hit it to the pool deck in right field.
It was Harper’s 22nd homer of the season and his sixth in a span of 52 plate appearances. It was also pretty much the extent of the Phillies’ offense.
