PHILADELPHIA — For weeks, as the buy-or-sell question began forming around the Phillies like storm clouds over Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, Dave Dombrowski told people that he hoped to see the roster at full strength before deciding what moves (if any) to make at the trade deadline.
Well, Dealer Dave, what do you think of the view?
Within the last few days, second baseman Jean Segura and shortstop Didi Gregorius returned from the injured list. The Phillies put their optimal lineup on the field Friday night and again Saturday, and lo and behold, they won back-to-back games for the first time since a four-game spurt from June 9-13.
The latest victory — 4-2 over the San Diego Padres in a game that was delayed by two hours at the start and interrupted for 45 minutes in the fourth inning by heavy rain — featured home runs by Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins, six solid innings from starter Zach Eflin, timely hitting by the middle of the order to take the lead in the sixth, a full-extension diving catch by Gregorius, and at long, long last, spotless relief from the combustible bullpen, including Ranger Suárez’s first career save.
Two games don’t typically change minds about a team that has been maddeningly self-destructive for 140 games over two years under manager Joe Girardi. But the Phillies finally had the clean, crisp look of a potential contender, especially in the middling National League East. And they did it against a star-studded Padres team that came to town riding a wave of 11 wins in 13 games, no less.
What if they can stay healthy and get some reinforcements from the front office?
“I wish we had a chance to bring them all together,” Dombrowski said two weeks ago. “And hopefully we have a chance to get to that point. But you just deal with it. Hey, if you’re four games out, basically you control your own destiny, right? So you hope that today is the day you start playing well.”
The Padres grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a homer by Manny Machado against Eflin. The Phillies tied it in the second on solo homers by Harper and Hoskins. Then came the rain, and the tarp, and another delay.
Both starters — Eflin and San Diego’s Yu Darvish — stayed in a 2-2 game after the fourth-inning delay. Darvish, who had seven strikeouts before the interruption, retired the first five batters he faced after it.
But slumping J.T. Realmuto legged out a one-out triple in the sixth inning on a deep drive that nearly went out to right field. Harper followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Phillies a lead.
Andrew McCutchen, who could stay if the Phillies make a run at winning the NL East or go if they decide to sell off pieces, lined a single to left field. He stole second base and scored on Hoskins’ double to the wall in left field.
From there, the Phillies turned to a bullpen that leads baseball in blown saves. And when rookie lefty Bailey Falter gave up a leadoff single in the seventh, Girardi’s stomach may have started to churn. But Falter got a double play and a strikeout, Archie Bradley tossed a scoreless eighth, and Suárez went through the heart of the Padres’ order — Fernando Tatis Jr., Jane Cronenworth, and Machado — in the ninth.
