Phillies Lose Game and Second Baseman, End Miserable May With Fifth Straight Defeat

Phillies lose game and second baseman, end miserable May with fifth straight defeat originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The last night of May played out like so many others for the Phillies.

Not enough offense, a defensive miscue and a longball against the bullpen conspired against the Phils as they suffered a 7-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants in 11 innings at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night.

As if a fifth straight loss and the painful reality of a 12 ½ game deficit in the NL East weren’t enough insult, the Phils also suffered injury.

Second baseman Jean Segura took a pitch off his right index finger while trying to bunt in the seventh inning. X-rays revealed a fracture. He will have further tests Wednesday but will end up on the injured list.

Segura is one of the team’s best hitters, as well as one of its few dependable defenders.

“Somebody is going to have to step up,” manager Joe Girardi said.

Shortstop Didi Gregorius has recovered from a knee sprain and is playing on injury rehab at Triple A. It’s possible his timetable could be expedited. Johan Camargo, who has been playing much shortstop with Gregorius out, could move over to second base.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” Girardi said. “We’ll be discussing it tonight.”

That sounded like a lot of fun after a four-hour, 52-minute game.

The Phils finished a miserable month of May 10-18.

“June has to be better,” Girardi said. “These last two weeks have been really frustrating for our club. We’ve had a lot of tough losses, the last (three) in extra innings. It’s been really tough. We’ve had opportunities to win; we just haven’t done it.”

The Phils had opportunities to win Tuesday night. They left the potential winning run on second in the ninth when Nick Castellanos grounded out. They left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th when former Phillie Jose Alvarez struck out Roman Quinn to end the game. The Phils left 14 men on base and were just 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position.

The Giants scored three times in the top of the 11th against reliever Andrew Bellatti to break a 4-4 tie. Donovan Walton had an RBI double and Joc Pederson a two-run homer in the inning.

Starter Ranger Suarez fought command issues but got important outs when he needed them. Relievers Connor Brogdon and Seranthony Dominguez also got big outs and the score was tied 3-3 after nine innings.

The Giants pushed across the tie-breaking run on an error by pitcher Jeurys Familia in the top of the 10th.

The extra inning started with a man on second. Familia induced a hard-hit ground ball to first base by Pederson. Rhys Hoskins fielded the ball deep behind the bag and delivered a throw to Familia but the pitcher was not only late getting to the bag, he dropped the throw allowing Wilmer Flores to score from second.

The Phils tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the 10th on a hit by Alec Bohm. The ground ball would have been a game-ending out but it hit off the second base bag and carried into center field, allowing the run to score.

It turned out that Familia’s mental error (not covering the base in time) and his physical error in the top of the 10th put the Phillies in a bind.

“He didn’t get over on time,” Girardi said. “I mean, that’s Baseball 101. He’s probably done it 1,000 times.”

Had he done it this time …

“They might not have scored,” Girardi said – and the Phillies might have won it on Bohm’s hit in the bottom of the 10th.

Instead, the Phillies are 21-29 heading into June.

Hard to believe.

“I definitely think we’re better than our record shows,” Kyle Schwarber said. “But we have to go out there and find a way to win games.”

Starting Wednesday night with Aaron Nola on the mound. He will try to prevent the Phils from being swept in two straight series.

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