Phillies' offensive woes continue in series loss vs. Braves

ATLANTA -- Trea Turner spiked his bat and tossed his helmet after he fouled out in the third inning Thursday night at Truist Park.

He missed another mistake he felt he should have hit.

This whole thing is just so … weird. The Phillies lost, 3-2, Thursday night to the Braves at Truist Park. They lost the series to cut their lead in the NL East to six games with 35 to play. The Phils had hoped a 4-1 finish to their recent homestand would have provided the spark they needed to finally put their weeks-long doldrums in the past.

But the Phillies batted .146 in three games in Atlanta. They struck out 32 times. They walked five times.

They scored only six runs.

It felt like it has felt for more than a month now.

“We’ve just got to get it rolling,” Turner said. “I think all of us, in general. It’s kind of weird that we’re all struggling at the same time. Normally, when you have a good lineup, some guys [slump] here or there. It’s kind of weird that a lot of us are there.”

The top three hitters in the Phillies’ lineup went a combined 2-for-33 with two RBIs, two walks and 14 strikeouts in the series. Kyle Schwarber went 1-for-10 with one RBI, two walks and seven strikeouts. Turner went 0-for-11 with one RBI and one strikeout. Bryce Harper went 1-for-12 with six strikeouts.

Others struggled, too.

“I don’t think it’s a concern,” Turner said. “It’s more weird for us. I don’t think it’s anything we’re necessarily doing wrong. We’re preparing. We’re doing the stuff we normally do. We’re having fun. We’ve got a good mindset. We’re not clicking.

“There’s still time left, obviously. We want to play well. It’s starting to get to that point in the season where it’s play well or go home. I don’t think we’re under any stress or pressure or anything like that, but more so we just want to play well. We know what we’re capable of and we expect it out of ourselves.”

Manager Rob Thomson said the team needs to improve its approach offensively.

Yes, the Phils faced some good starting pitching this week, but they also chased too many pitches outside the strike zone.

“We have to cut that back,” Thomson said. “We have to turn the field around, see the ball as long as we can. Think small, and big things happen.”

Braves right-hander Reynaldo López struck out 10 in five innings on Tuesday in his return from the injured list. Atlanta retired the final 17 Philadelphia batters in a 3-1 victory. One night later, left-hander Max Fried retired the first nine batters he faced. Though the Phillies managed only five hits, they manufactured three runs in a 3-2 win.

On Thursday, rookie Spencer Schwellenbach allowed a one-out single to Harper in the first inning before retiring the next 19 batters he faced until Stott reached on an infield single with two outs in the seventh.

But the big hit never came on Thursday.

“It’s not coming as easy as you feel like it should,” Schwarber said. “It feels like there’s some people that are trying to figure some things out at the same time. It can be challenging, but at the end of the day, we’re all going to be in there competing. I feel like you’re only going to feel good about maybe 20% of the year. And then you’re going to have to figure things out, grind things out 80% of the year.

“It’s frustrating, especially going up against a team that you know a lot and there’s a lot of history behind.”

The Phillies are 13-21 since July 11. It is the third-worst record in the Majors, ahead of only the White Sox and Mariners.

It has felt bleak at times, but if the Phillies go just 17-18 (.486) the rest of the way, they would finish 91-71 -- and the Braves would need to go 23-12 (.657) just to force a tie atop the NL East.

“Everything can feel like it’s a lot more when you want to be winning baseball games and you want to be performing well,” Schwarber said. “At the end of the day, there’s still a lead. There’s still a thing that we have to reach out and hold onto, and at the end of the day, it’s, ‘Get the division title and get into the postseason.’

“That’s what you want to hold onto and keep fighting for. Whenever that day comes -- if we clinch or whenever we make the postseason -- we have to keep fighting and keep willing ourselves to get to that finish line.”