Jun 7, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos (8) argues with home plate umpire Nestor Ceja (33) after Castellanos was called out on strikes by the Pittsburgh Pirates during the seventh inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
PITTSBURGH - At least the pain was quick this time.
Hey, when a team loses eight-of-nine and the last two to a team as lowly as the Pittsburgh Pirates, you have to look for silver linings.
Not that the Phillies themselves, are.
Yes, Ranger Suarez pitched a strong game - again. Yes Kyle Schwarber hit his 20th home run of the season.
But beyond that?
Eh... the game was one hour, 59 minutes.
The Phillies lost to the Pirates 2-1. That two sentence paragraph above, that was the highlights of a briskly played afternoon at PNC Park.
Things are not good for the Phillies right now. Another game happened where they amassed one run and four hits total.
In the last nine games, the Phillies have scored 29 runs. And while that's a low number it doesn't seem to be scraping the bottom of the ocean low - until you look more closely.
Consider they scored five of them in the ninth inning of a game last Saturday in which they were already losing to Milwaukee 17-2 and did so against a pitcher who the the Brewers DFA'd after the game.
And, on Tuesday, they put up a six spot in the first inning against Toronto - their highlight of the past eight games.
That means, in the other 79 innings that they've played in this stretch, they've scored a grand total of 18 runs.
Now, that's sea cucumber level of the ocean floor.
Watching the last 9 Phillies games pic.twitter.com/IDPgSO1DCS
"It's more approach than anything," manager Rob Thomson said. "I think guys are trying to do a little bit too much right now."
You think?
Schwarber's homer came on the first pitch he saw in the first inning. The next 28 batters amassed two singles and a double.
The two singles were erased immediately. Johan Rojas was doubled off of first base on a line drive to the second baseman by Trea Turner.
Nick Castellanos was forced at second on a ground out by J.T. Realmuto.
The one hit that should have resulted in a run, but didn't, was a leadoff double by Alec Bohm in the seventh inning.
He advanced to third on a wild pitch and then after Pittsburgh starter Andrew Heaney had to come out of the game with a cramp in his calf, reliever Isaac Mattson, making just his fifth appearance in the majors, came in to strike out Castellanos, get Realmuto to fly out on a very shallow fly to right field, and then got pinch hitter Bryson Stott to fly out to center.
That was pretty much the death knell for the Phillies, as Suarez gave up a solo homer to Henry Davis in the bottom of the seventh that might as well have been a 27-run homer, because the Phillies weren't going to overcome it.
And it's been exacerbated by Bryce Harper being placed on the I.L. Saturday with wrist inflammation.
"Obviously that's a big loss," Schwarber said. "(But) we have to be able to find ways to score runs and create runs and find opportunities. We are putting ourselves in good positions, but we got to just keep going.
"It was weird today. (Heaney) was attacking the zone, but we felt like we were getting our swings and that the result just kind of wasn't there."
And they haven't been. For more than a week now. Things look worse than they are, but sometimes that can eat away at hitters, especially when it's a collective funk.
In the old days, a stretch like this would result in a manager turning over a table, or team leaders calling a players only meeting.
Those things rarely, if ever, happen any more.
Besides, the Phillies are a veteran team. They know they aren't playing well.
"We all naturally talk about things," Schwarber said. "I think that's one of the great things about (Thomson) - he lets the locker room handle itself and make sure that we are policing whatever we need to do."
It's not going to get any easier - Paul Skenes awaits them on Sunday, assuming the weather forecast isn't accurate, as there is brutal weather coming to western PA.
The Phillies keep running out three platoons, and that's where most of the lack off offensive production is at in the lineup.
Whether it's Bryson Stott and Edmundo Sosa at second base, or Max Kepler and Weston Wilson in left field, or Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas in centerfield, the Phillies aren't getting much of anything offensively.
Brandon Marsh is one of several platoon players for the Phillies who haven't lived up to expectations (Credit: Charles LeClaire, IMAGN Images) Combine that with the fact that Otto Kemp is going to be given a longer look in Harper's absence and, well, the Phillies lineup doesn't look as daunting as it once did.
"I think you got to send them out there," Thomson said, specifically being asked about the outfield platoons. "Somebody's got to play out there. Those guys - I still have trust in them that they're going to hit and it's just a matter of time, but we got to get going."
If it were only that easy.
