Phillies lose hold of 2nd place after G2 loss

The Phillies were already hurting Sunday. Then the Marlins swept them in a seven-inning doubleheader at Marlins Park.

Miami manager Don Mattingly said Thursday that these two teams were “basically going to play a World Series in five days.” The Marlins won that faux-World Series in six games, handing Philadelphia 2-1 and 8-1 losses, respectively, on Sunday, pushing Miami a half-game ahead of the Phillies for second place in the National League East.

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The top two teams in each division qualify for the sixteen-team postseason. The Phillies fell into one of two NL Wild Card Series spots with 15 games to play. They can return to second with a victory in Monday’s series finale, but they might be missing some serious firepower in the coming days.

“All of the obstacles this season,” Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins said, “it seems like we’ve been able to get over all of them so far.”

The Phillies carried a light crew into both games Sunday. J.T. Realmuto did not play either game because of discomfort in his hip. He injured himself running to first base in the eighth inning Saturday. Hoskins did not play either game because of a sore left forearm, which got bent awkwardly in a collision at first base in the seventh inning on Saturday.

Realmuto has hit cleanup 38 times this season, and Hoskins has hit second 41 times. Both will have MRI exams on Monday.

“You’re missing two pretty big bats in your lineup,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said.

Never mind that they were already missing Jay Bruce, Roman Quinn and Scott Kingery, each of whom are on the 10-day injured list.

“It’s frustrating,” Hoskins said. “We’ve done a lot of work. I feel like we’ve put ourselves in a good position to get back to the playoffs. But the good thing about this clubhouse is that there are a lot of guys in there that are ready. Obviously, today, it didn’t show, but I think everyone in that clubhouse is confident in whoever steps on the field, that we can still get into the playoffs.”

After Marlins rookie Sixto Sánchez shut down the Phillies in Game 1, fellow rookie Braxton Garrett allowed one run in five innings in his big league debut in Game 2. Meanwhile, Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin allowed the first five batters he faced to reach base in the first inning in Game 2, when the Marlins took a 3-0 lead.

Eflin allowed eight hits and four runs, walked two and struck out four in four-plus innings.

“I obviously didn’t do my job,” Eflin said.

But Eflin said the Phillies remain confident, despite the recent run on injuries. Besides Realmuto, Hoskins, Bruce, Quinn and Kingery, the Phillies pushed back Zack Wheeler’s scheduled start this series as he tries to heal the nail on his right middle finger, which he nearly lost in a freak accident late last week. The Phillies also placed right-hander Spencer Howard on the 10-day IL on Sunday with stiffness in his right shoulder.

Wheeler and Howard are two-fifths of the Phillies’ rotation, although Vince Velasquez will take Howard’s spot. The Phillies hope Wheeler can pitch this week against the Mets.

“We know what we need to do,” Eflin said. “We have the guys to do it. That’s why you have a full roster to have guys come in and take care of business. We’re waiting to see what’s going on with those guys, but in the meantime we need to capitalize. We’re not holding our heads down or anything. We know that we’re a special team, and we’re going to continue to fight and be competitive and take that into the postseason.”

Hoskins and Realmuto make this Phillies offense very special; it entered the afternoon fourth in baseball in runs per game. But it’s different without them.

“Other guys have got to rise up,” Girardi said. “That’s all.”