Phillies feeling a run: 'We're not out of it'

PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper looks at Wednesday’s Trade Deadline as a choice: red button or blue button?

“World Series or prospects?” he said.

If the red button represents veteran players and the present, the blue button represents prospects and the future. The Phillies’ front office has said a couple times in recent weeks that it plans to hold onto its top prospects, believing the team is more than one player away from winning the World Series. The Phillies’ performance this weekend against the Braves might have clinched that thinking. They beat the Braves on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, 9-4, but lost two of three in the series. They are 55-50 overall, but just 22-28 since May 29. They are 6 1/2 games behind the Braves in the National League East and one game out of the second Wild Card.

• Box score

“We’ve just got to get in,” Harper said. “That’s it. That’s all you’ve got to do. There are some Wild Card teams that have won it. Some teams that have won the division have won it. So we just got to get it. We have a great group of guys. We just have to score runs, pitch well, and just get our foot in the door. We have a chance to do that, so hopefully, if we do make a decision, it will be based on us trying to win this year and next year and the year after that.”

There can be a happy medium here. The Phillies might not want to trade top prospects like Alec Bohm, Spencer Howard and Adonis Medina, but Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said last week in Detroit that any trades before Wednesday might look like the ones the organization made in 2007 (Kyle Lohse and Tadahito Iguchi) and ’08 (Joe Blanton).

A starter like Lohse (6-12, 4.58 ERA at the time of the trade) or Blanton (5-12, 4.96 ERA) would help. The Phillies’ rotation has taken a significant step backward from last season. Phillies ace Aaron Nola allowed four runs in 6 2/3 innings Sunday, striking out eight and walking three. He is 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA (12 earned runs in 54 1/3 innings) in eight starts since June 15. The other Phillies starters have a combined 6.36 ERA (93 earned runs in 131 2/3 innings) in 27 starts since June 15.

“That's their decision,” Nola said of Deadline movement. “We've got a great group here. We're not out of it. We don't believe we're out of it by any means. Anything can happen. We can go on a great run."

Nola singled twice on Sunday, and his second knock in the fifth inning set up J.T. Realmuto’s grand slam to hand the Phillies a 6-0 lead. Realmuto has struggled this season with runners in scoring position, batting .245 with a .626 OPS, but he jumped all over a 3-2 fastball from Braves right-hander Kevin Gausman and crushed it into the left-field seats.

“I’ve hit the ball just as hard as I ever have,” Realmuto said. “I have some numbers to show I’ve been a little unlucky. Obviously, I feel like I can produce more at the plate -- maybe simplify my approach a little bit. I feel like it’s coming around.”

Harper, Adam Haseley and Rhys Hoskins also homered. The Phillies are 27-7 when they hit more than one home run in a game, which they expected to do quite a bit this season, but they are just 11th in the National League with 135 home runs and 12th with a .421 slugging percentage.

“We all have to get a little bit better,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “It’s coaching staff, it’s our hitters, it’s our pitchers, our bullpen, everything across the board. We play our baseball, we play to our potential and we are a strong club.

“We’re a game out of the playoffs right now. I think we’re positioned well to make a run. I don’t think the clubs that are battling for those positions are better than us. I think we have the capability with the talent in the room to be much better in the second half than we were in the first.”

But reinforcements would be welcomed. Besides a starting pitcher or two, the Phillies could use help in the bullpen and in the lineup -- at the very least, a veteran bat for the bench.

“One game out of the Wild Card spot is a team that should push for the playoffs, in my opinion,” Realmuto said. “The guys we have in this locker room, we feel we can do it already, but obviously a little help wouldn’t hurt.”

Segura leaves game

Phillies shortstop Jean Segura left the game in the seventh inning with a bruised right shin, when a throw to second base from Realmuto hit him. Kapler said there are no long-term concerns.

Eflin will make next start

Kapler said that struggling right-hander Zach Eflin will make his next scheduled start Friday against the White Sox. He allowed 10 runs (six earned) over 2 2/3 innings in his last start against the Braves on Saturday.