Above each locker in the Phillies’ home clubhouse is a rolled-up sheet of plastic. They have waited there, lining the room, for the past four days, ready to be unfurled the moment the Phillies secured a playoff spot. But by Saturday evening, the Phillies’ fourth consecutive loss, the plastic and what it represents had become taunting.
Even the old photo of Kyle Schwarber in his high school football uniform that had been taped above the door, presiding over the room for the last month, had been taken down. There is nothing to laugh about anymore.
With the Phillies’ latest 12-1 loss to the Rays, their drawn-out collapse has become a five-alarm fire of humiliation. Every one of interim manager Don Mattingly’s gambles failed on Saturday, a dreary, rainy night befitting perhaps one of the last gasps of the Phillies season.
If the Phillies find themselves playing beyond Sunday, they have Manny Machado and the Padres to thank. While the Rays’ lead grew to double digits, on the other side of the country, Machado hit a go-ahead two-run homer to help beat the Diamondbacks, 10-7. In doing so, he and the Padres shrank the Phillies’ magic number to one.
With a win in Game 162, or another Arizona loss on Sunday, they can still salvage this week from franchise infamy.
“We got to come out and play our best baseball tomorrow,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “That’s really all there is to it.”
The desperation move to start Aaron Nola on two days’ rest did not work. Junior Caminero jumped on him with a two-run homer, and back-to-back doubles from Victor Mesa Jr. and Richie Palacios gave the Rays a 3-0 lead before the Phillies’ offense even stepped into the box.
All three runs came with two outs. The Phillies had hoped he could give them 40 to 50 pitches; Nola only lasted 21.
“I was actually really proud of him,” Mattingly said. “Taking the ball there on two days’ rest. Just gutting it out. And yeah, it didn’t go as well as we liked.”
A start like that marked a first for Nola in his 11-season career. He said it was an easy yes when the Phillies approached him with the idea, and he skipped his usual bullpen session Friday to stay ready for it.
“Obviously, it wasn’t ideal to start the game off, and get the guys down 3-0 in the first. Tough loss,” Nola said.
The gamble to mix up the lineup didn’t work, either. In a playofflike atmosphere, both in stakes and in temperature, the Phillies folded. They mustered seven total hits. The $780 million top of the Phillies order — Trea Turner now moved to leadoff, Schwarber, and Bryce Harper — accounted for three of them.
Realmuto went hitless again before being replaced by Garrett Stubbs with the game already out of reach in the seventh. His slump has reached 0-for-34.
“I feel like I’m letting a lot of guys down in this clubhouse,” Realmuto said. “So I’ve been working my tail off to try to fix it.”
One play in the third encapsulated how things have been going for the offense: With Justin Crawford on second base, Turner hit a 104 mph laser up the middle, but it bounced off the back of Rays pitcher Griffin Jax and directly to shortstop Taylor Walls. He was able to finish the play and the inning.
Jax had to be helped off the field and the Rays called on their bullpen for the fourth, which continued to stifle the Phillies’ bats.
“Two weeks ago, I wouldn’t guess that we’d be in this situation, but that’s this game. It knows how to humble you,” Realmuto said.
Mattingly’s gamble to intentionally walk Caminero in the fifth inning proved to be one of the most disastrous. With José Alvarado on the mound, two runners on, the game still within a three-run margin, the Phillies took the bat out of Caminero’s hands. Alvarado has been better against righties this season — they have a .235 average against him, compared to lefties’ .333 — though Caminero is a power threat no matter the handedness of the pitcher.
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But Alvarado did not throw another strike after that. He gave up a single to Mesa Jr. on a sinker below the zone, and then walked Palacios on four pitches to force in a run. When José Urquidy took over, the bases still loaded, another single scored two more. And before the final out of the fifth, the Phillies had already essentially waved the white flag.
By the time the Phillies finally scratched across a run on an error from Palacios in the seventh, their scoreless streak had reached 21 innings. It surpassed the previous season-high drought of 20 set in April. Back then, the Phillies preached patience. This time, there is nothing to be patient for. There is no time left.
Searching for optimism anywhere they can find it, the Phillies pointed to their at-bats late in the game. Four of their seven hits came in the final three innings, even if they only got one run out of it.
“You probably think I’m crazy. … And I’m not going to say our at-bats overall, but in a game like that, our guys fought the whole way,” Mattingly said. “A lot of fight, at-bats at the end. I was actually encouraged at the end of that game. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic. But I was encouraged.”
The Phillies have one final chance in Game 162 on Sunday, when Zack Wheeler will start. Jesús Luzardo is expected to be activated from the injured list and be available in the bullpen. Jonathan Bowlan could be in play, too.
“We’re always confident when that guy’s on the mound,” Realmuto said of Wheeler. “To me, it just comes down to our offense tomorrow. We need to be able to score, and we need to have good at-bats. And obviously, they have a good pitching staff, so we’re going to have to work that out for us.”
Mattingly is making one more gamble. If this one works, they will be without at least one of their aces for the wild-card series. If it doesn’t, their season is most likely over anyway.
