Fading Phillies fall flat against Marlins
Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly sat in the dugout contemplating his team’s role of spoiler a couple of hours before the start of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, whose playoff hopes are fading with a late-season swoon.
“They’re probably feeling like they’ve got to win every game,” Mattingly said.
Instead, the Phillies are doing the opposite. They lost their third in a row Monday, managing only four hits and no walks against Jose Urena and two relievers, and the last-place Marlins won 3-1.
The Phillies remained four games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East and are 9-17 since Aug. 6, when the led the division. They’ve scored five runs in the past four games.
“I don’t think we’re running out of time,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We have a ton of confidence. This is not the last day of the season.”
It’s true the Phillies aren’t out of the division race, because they face Atlanta in seven of their final 11 games. But the loss to the Marlins doesn’t help.
“We have plenty of time to put together a really strong run,” Kapler said. “If we get hot, and I believe we can and will, we’ll rattle off enough wins to be right where we need to be when we start that series with Atlanta.”
Urena (5-12) gave up one run in seven innings. He struck out seven to increase his season total to 117, a career high.
Drew Steckenrider pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his third save.
Vince Velasquez (9-10) allowed three runs in five innings.
“This is a month where we’ve got to bear down, and I think we’re capable of that,” Velasquez said. “I think there’s a turning point somewhere, and I think we’ll find it soon – probably tomorrow.”
Washington 4, St. Louis 3: Bryce Harper hit a tying, two-run homer in the ninth inning, then delivered a sacrifice fly in the 10th that sent the Washington Nationals over St. Louis Cardinals 4-3.
The Cardinals led 3-1 with one out in the ninth when Harper hit his 31st home run. Mark Reynolds led off the Washington 10th against Chasen Shreve with a double. Pinch-runner Michael Taylor moved to third on Adam Eaton’s bunt single and an out later, Harper flied to deep left.
Chicago White Sox 4, Detroit 2: Matt Davidson hit a two-run, game-ending homer as the Chicago White Sox scored three times in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 for their eighth win in 11 games.
Houston 4, Minnesota 1: Alex Bregman homered for the third straight game and Yuli Gurriel also went deep to help the Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1.
Boston 8, Atlanta 2: The Boston Red Sox have continued their mastery of the National League. This time the interleague win came in a matchup of first-place teams as the Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 8-2.
Colorado 9, San Francisco 8: Pinch-hitter Noel Cuevas delivered a go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth inning and the Colorado Rockies rallied to beat the San Francisco Giants 9-8 after squandering a five-run lead.
Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 3: Christian Yelich drove in the winning run with the bases loaded in the ninth after beating a throw from third to avoid a double play, and the Milwaukee Brewers opened an important three-game series with the Chicago Cubs with a 4-3 win.
The .316 hitter hit a 1-2 fastball right at third baseman Kris Bryant, who touched third for the second out of the ninth before firing to first. Yelich reached safely, allowing Keon Broxton to score from third.
Kansas City 5, Cleveland 1: Jakob Junis allowed two hits in seven shutout innings, Ryan O’Hearn homered twice and the Kansas City Royals extended their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Oakland 6, N.Y. Yankees 3: Mark Canha homered and Matt Chapman hit an RBI double to back Trevor Cahill, leading the Oakland Athletics past the New York Yankees 6-3 in a matchup between two teams in the AL wild-card race. The A’s pulled within 3 ½ games of New York for the first wild card.