3 Numbers to Remember: Phillies drop series in South Beach

A weekend in South Beach didn’t go well for the Philadelphia Phillies, who dropped two of three to the National League Worst Miami Marlins. Gabe Kapler’s squad is just 7-9 against the Marlins in 2019, which is a major reason they find themselves on the outside looking in on the National League Wild Card race with 33 games remaining.

Here are three numbers that highlight just how this series loss against the Marlins unfolded:

5 – Straight Series Losses To Sub .500 Teams

This month has been an indictment on the inconsistency of the 2019 installment of the Phillies. In August, they have managed to sweep the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, two very respectable teams, while managing five wins total in 16 games against the Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Marlins.

For much of the season, Kapler has talked about the Phillies potentially going on a run, but they’ve failed to do that against lesser competition. It is going to be a lot harder to string together wins against the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals and Cleveland Indians – teams the Phillies will play on an 11-game road trip in September. The Phillies aren’t out of the playoff race by any stretch, but they have to do better in order to make a serious run at a Wild Card spot.

14 – Extra Base Hits In The Series

After cooling down since the Cubs series, the Phillies offense was back for the first two games of this series. This included three extra-base hits apiece from Scott Kingery and Corey Dickerson, each of whom have carried the Phillies offense during certain points of this season.

One big hit came off the bat of Rhys Hoskins – a go-ahead, two-run home run on Sunday. While the home run didn’t ultimately lead the Phillies to a win, it was important for Hoskins, who had been in quite a slump:

With that home run, Rhys Hoskins breaks a career-long 84 PA HR drought. His slugging percentage fell from .522 to .471 during that span which lasted more than 3 weeks.

— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) August 25, 2019

While the Phillies ultimately only took one game this series, it was good for their offense to come alive for a couple of days.

3 – Blown Leads In The Two Losses

This is a series that the Phillies should have swept.

On Friday, starter Vince Velasquez was gifted with an early seven-run lead; he blew it all in the third inning. The Phillies regained it for two innings before Nick Pivetta and the defense behind him blew it for good.

On Sunday, after the Phillies finally scored in the top of the sixth on a Hoskins two-run home run in the top of the sixth, Aaron Nola gave it right back and the score stuck, 3-2.

Friday’s loss is definitely the more unbelievable one, and it is inexcusable to surrender a seven-run lead no matter the pitcher. The Phillies are in the thick of a playoff race, and in order to come out with a shot to make the playoffs, they just cannot lose games like the one that they lost on Friday night.

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