Shorthanded Phils' lineup lacks punch in loss

TORONTO -- Something was missing for the Phillies on Tuesday night. A few things, actually.

The bullpen ate innings and the Phils hung around, but without some lineup staples, they never found the big hit and couldn't take control of the game in a 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. With several key players absent and injured, the Phillies were depleted in Toronto, and it showed.

“Those guys that are here, they played hard and they gave us a chance to win,” interim manager Rob Thomson said after the game.

Philadelphia has been hit hard with injuries lately, losing Jean Segura, Bryce Harper, Zach Eflin and Ranger Suárez to the injured list in recent weeks. Add in the players on the restricted list for this road series in Toronto, including J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm, and the Phillies are certainly not whole.

Bohm and Realmuto are big-bat mainstays in the middle of Philadelphia's batting order, accounting for a combined 68 RBIs this season. Without the pair on Tuesday, the Phillies lacked their run-scoring punch. Philadelphia’s Nos. 3-5 hitters combined to go 2-for-12 with seven strikeouts, and Philly managed just seven total baserunners.

Could Bohm and Realmuto have made the difference?

"You never know," said pitcher Mark Appel, who allowed one run over three innings after Andrew Bellatti gave up two runs in the opening frame of a bullpen game. "But we have full confidence in the team that we have here.”

Odúbel Herrera and Garrett Stubbs, two batters tasked with replacing Bohm and Realmuto in the lineup, each did their part at the bottom of the order, recording two of Philadelphia’s seven hits. But without two crucial hitters, Philly's offense lacked the usual whomp -- and the Phils were undermanned on the other side of the ball, too.

Starter Bailey Falter was in line to pitch Tuesday in Toronto, but he was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley last week, and he wouldn’t have been eligible to pitch against the Jays as an unvaccinated player, anyway. With two other regular starting pitchers on the restricted list and two more on the IL, the Phillies were forced into their second bullpen game in the past three days.

The bullpen did a "great job," Thomson said after the game, applauding the six pitchers used for "battling all night long." But even seven innings from Aaron Nola in Monday's loss to the Cardinals couldn’t prevent strain on Philadelphia's ‘pen, and some relievers were forced into uncomfortable situations against the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Jeurys Familia was tasked with trying to pitch his first two-inning outing of the season, but he ran into a wall in the sixth inning. Sitting on a second-pitch sinker with two men on, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove a ground-rule double into left-center field, chasing Familia and forcing Thomson to go to his fourth pitcher of the contest. While Corey Knebel came in and put out the fire -- and helped keep other relievers rested for Wednesday -- the game-winning run had already been scored.

Normally, a Bryson Stott homer and Knebel’s dance out of a bases-loaded jam would be the needed accompanying pieces to a Philadelphia win. But with the absences and injuries, those moments were merely background positives in the Phillies' third straight loss.