Thomson, Schwarber maintain calm exterior as Phillies' trip gets worse

SAN FRANCISCO -- An already troubling road trip got a little worse Saturday when the Phillies fell all over themselves and lost, 5-4, to the San Francisco Giants at 24 Willie Mays Plaza.

The loss was the Phillies' second straight to a Giants team that entered the series losers of seven straight and 11 of 13.

Before San Francisco, the Phils lost two of three in Arizona. They are 1-5 in their last six and 0-2 in the month of September.

Surely, you've heard that recent Septembers have been a problem for the Phils. They haven't had a winning September since 2017 and a poor one this year could kill their chances of making the postseason for the first time since 2011.

Rob Thomson, the Phillies' Canadian-born skipper, spent four years on the coaching staff before succeeding Joe Girardi in June. He knows all about those poor Septembers and believes this one will be different.

Why?

"Different players," he said after Saturday's loss. "We have six or seven different position players from last year and a whole bunch of different pitchers. And, I've said all along, we have a good bullpen and once we get Seranthony Dominguez back, it'll be even better.

"The Toronto Maple Leafs had the same thing. They can't get out of the first round. Well, they couldn't get out of the first round for 15 years. Well, it's not the same team. I just don't believe in all that stuff. I think you've got to fight and you've got to win and you can't listen to all that stuff."

Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies' Ohio-born team leader, also struck a calming tone after the game.

"The ebbs and flows of baseball are real and you're going to have stretches where you go through things like this, and as a group, we have to make that as short as possible," Schwarber said. "Our job right now is to shorten what's going on right now.

"It's frustrating, sure, but it's also exciting because we're still in a good position. Don't get me wrong, it's frustrating, but it's still in our hands right now."

Schwarber is right. The Phillies left the ballpark three games up on Milwaukee for the final wild-card spot with 29 games to play. They also hold a tiebreaker over the Brewers.

But that doesn't eliminate the need for wins and the need to play a cleaner brand of ball. The Phillies have played sloppy defense on this trip, the walks have piled up and starting pitchers have not gone deep enough into games.

Saturday's loss embodied all the above. The Phils gave the game away. They played poor defense and gave the Giants a run in the first inning. In the sixth inning, they gave San Francisco five outs and the Giants broke a 4-4 tie in that frame.

In that sixth inning, Schwarber misplayed a catchable ball to the wall in left into a leadoff double and the Giants eventually scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk by Brad Hand. Hand walked three batters in the frame but could have gotten out of the inning unscathed had second baseman Jean Segura tried to turn a double play instead of throwing home to cut a run.

Five games into the trip, Phillies pitchers have issued six walks and hit a batter with the bases loaded.

Think about that for a second.

"We're just going through a stretch right now," Thomson said. "We've got to fight our way out of it."

Pitching and defense were not the only culprits in Saturday's loss. The Phillies wasted a leadoff single in the first inning. They opened the fifth with a double and a single and got nothing. In the seventh, they wasted a leadoff triple by Schwarber. They got the first two runners on base in the eighth and got nothing.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler pulled all the right strings with his deployment of right-handed pinch-hitters against Hand in the sixth and with his calls to the bullpen.

The Giants' bullpen picked up some huge outs. Scott Alexander got Bryce Harper to bounce into a double play to end the top of the fifth. Jarlin Garcia blew away J.T. Realmuto on three pitches to end the top of the seventh with runners on the corners. Camilo Doval struck out Matt Vierling with the potential tying run on third to end the top of the eighth.

The Phillies ended up leaving eight men on base and were just 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

Phillies starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard lasted only 4⅓ innings and gave up four runs. He cost himself a run with a throwing error in the first inning.

In the Phillies' four losses on this trip, the starting pitching has lasted just 3⅔ innings, 4 innings, 1⅔ innings and 4⅓ innings. Not good. The club misses Zack Wheeler. Bailey Falter, Wheeler's replacement, is the only pitcher to get through six innings on the trip. He did that in Wednesday night's 18-2 win in Arizona.

Ranger Suarez will get the ball Sunday against Carlos Rodon. It's a tough assignment for the Phils, but they need a win. This month. Badly.

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