Kingery's clutch hit lifts Phils in Wild Card chase

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said on Sunday that he's hoping his team plays well enough in these "meaningful September games" to continue playing into October for the first time since 2011 -- though he quickly added "it's also a team that's built to compete in future years."

Scott Kingery perhaps delayed shifting that focus to 2020 a bit longer when he delivered a go-ahead bases-clearing double in the eighth inning of Sunday's 5-2 victory over the Mets at Citizens Bank Park. The win not only helped the Phils avoid a sweep at the hands of their rival, but also moved them to within 2 1/2 games of the Cubs for the second National League Wild Card spot.

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"It's a big win for us. We needed it," Kingery said. "Hopefully that can get some momentum rolling for us."

Though the Phillies ultimately dropped another series -- they haven't won consecutive sets since doing so against the Pirates and Tigers from July 19-24 -- they still find themselves squarely in the postseason hunt with a month to play. Still, Klentak knows that leapfrogging the Cubs won't come easy, especially in such a crowded race in which the Brewers, D-backs and Mets are all within 1 1/2 games of Philadelphia.

"We're three games out on the first of September and we have a chance," Klentak said prior to the victory. "It's going to take a really impressive September run to overcome the Cubs and/or Washington, and we know that, but we're in position to play meaningful games in September, as we were a year ago."

The Phillies are hoping things go much different this time around. After being just two games behind Atlanta in the NL East when rosters expanded a year ago, they went 8-20 over the final month to finish in third place, 10 games back of the Braves.

Avoiding a similar fate this year certainly won't come easy.

Starting Monday in Cincinnati, the Phillies will play 18 of their final 27 games on the road. Following the four-game series against the Reds, they will then play 20 straight against teams with winning records before finishing the year against last-place Miami.

"Failing to reach October baseball last year was disappointing, but it was certainly a competitive season for us," Klentak said. "This year, we're competing through the month of September and I hope we play in October. If not, we're going to dedicate ourselves to improving the club again this offseason and put forth our best effort for next year."

Sunday was a perfect example of what has been missing for the Phillies. Zach Eflin tossed seven stellar innings before exiting after just 84 pitches with a 2-1 lead. After reliever Mike Morin put two on with only one out in the eighth, closer Héctor Neris entered and recorded the second out before allowing the equalizer to score on a wild pitch. Kingery bailed them out this time with his three-run double before Neris slammed the door in the ninth.

Even with the back end of the Phillies' rotation stumbling this year, the idea was always that those guys -- whether it be Eflin, Jake Arrieta, Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez or Jerad Eickhoff -- could give the team a chance to win before handing the ball to the likes of David Robertson, Pat Neshek, Seranthony Dominguez and Tommy Hunter.

Unfortunately, that quartet of relievers has combined to pitch 54 2/3 innings. That includes only 6 2/3 from Robertson, who recently underwent Tommy John surgery after signing a two-year, $23 million deal this offseason. So has been the case for much of Philadelphia's beleagured bullpen. The Phillies have had 10 relievers spend a combined 840 days on the injured list this season, by far the most in the Majors.

"You have that many injuries concentrated in one area -- in this case, the bullpen -- to say that it tests your depth is an understatement," Klentak said. "No organization has enough depth to replace as many guys as we've lost."

It's certainly not what Klentak had in mind when the Phillies added Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura last offseason in an attempt to improve the offense. That said, each of those players -- along with Kingery, Rhys Hoskins, Aaron Nola and Andrew McCutchen, among others -- remain under team control beyond this season.

"All of these players are going to be here for some time," Klentak said. "With all that said, we still have a lot of flexibility this coming winter to address other areas. I don't know that we have another $330 million contract up our sleeve, but we certainly have the flexibility to be aggressive and make additions to plug the holes we have."

At the same time, Klentak acknowledged that those conversations are best to have once the season is over -- something he is still hoping will come later than it has each of the previous seven seasons.

"I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we're [2 1/2] games out and have some really important baseball games ahead of us this month," Klentak said.