PITTSBURGH – The Phillies are going to need to find a way to generate offense without Bryce Harper and the early returns have been ugly.
They were swept in Pittsburgh, shut down offensively and need to figure this out quickly, because Harper didn't sound Saturday like he expected to be back when first eligible June 16.
The Phils were held to a lone run for the second straight day and were swept by the Pirates, falling 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. They've lost five consecutive games and 9 of 10. They went 1-5 on a road trip to Toronto and Pittsburgh this week and come home with a 37-28 record. They're nearly as far behind the Mets in the NL East as they were after being swept at Citi Field in late April.
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SIGN UP HERE "The easy thing is to say it's a long season but we know we're better than how we've been playing and we need to start doing it," Bryson Stott said.
"It's frustrating, just the hitters that we have and the outings we're getting from the pitchers. Feel like we're letting them down."
The Phillies knew Sunday wouldn't be easy against Pirates ace Paul Skenes, who might be the NL Cy Young front-runner at the moment. Skenes used his 99 mph fastball and deep mix of seven pitches to hold the Phillies in check, just as he did on May 18 at Citizens Bank Park. He allowed one run over eight innings in a loss that afternoon and gave up just an unearned run over 7⅔ innings Sunday.
The Phillies mustered two hits off Skenes and they came in consecutive at-bats in the top of the third. Brandon Marsh lined a single up the middle and nine-hole hitter Rafael Marchan doubled. Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales made an errant relay throw that caromed off Marchan's body and allowed Marsh to score the Phillies' only run.
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They went 1-for-19 with three walks the rest of the way. The only player to reach base twice was Marsh.
"A little bit," Stott said when asked if hitters are trying to do too much without Harper. "We saw it in '22 when he was down, it took a second to finally have everyone calm down and realize we've still got to play our game. He's Bryce Harper and you're not gonna try to step up to be Bryce Harper, you want to be yourself. Obviously, you want to hit like him. But a little bit of trying too hard or coming out of approaches."
It was a shame for Cristopher Sanchez, who probably had his best command of the season. Sanchez struck out nine and began the eighth inning with just one walk. Manager Rob Thomson left him in to face lefty-hitting Oneil Cruz because Sanchez had handled him three times earlier with two K's and a groundout. He couldn't the fourth time, walking Cruz, who leads the majors with 23 steals in 25 attempts.
"This was his best start in a while because he was attacking the zone," Thomson said. "Fastball had a lot of life to it, changeup was really good, he was landing the slider. It's all about attack for him. He's got to attack the zone because his stuff is good enough to get anyone out."
Cruz spun his wheels and did not seem to get a good jump but still stole second on reliever Orion Kerkering, scoring the game-winning run on an opposite-field single by Andrew McCutchen.
"It's like that when a team isn't performing like we are right now. I know our team can score a lot of runs," Sanchez said. "We're just going through a rough stretch."
The Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park for a much-needed six-game homestand. The Cubs are in town Monday through Wednesday and the Blue Jays Friday through Sunday.
Thomson said he's been "thinking about some different things," so there may be a change or two to the lineup. Zack Wheeler will start Monday's series opener on 10 days' rest. He missed the trip to Pittsburgh and Toronto on the paternity list. He's their ace but he can't swing the bat and will need more support than Sanchez received in Pittsburgh.