MIAMI -- "Try a little easier."

That's the motto Phillies manager Gabe Kapler preached a week ago, when his ballclub reached a season-high seven-game skid that included a sweep at the hands of the Marlins. Philadelphia responded by sweeping the Mets in four midweek contests before dropping the first two matchups in Miami this weekend.

The Phillies (44-40) officially turned the page on a forgettable month with Sunday's 13-6 win over the Marlins at Marlins Park. Bryce Harper went 3-for-4 with a home run, and matched his season high with four RBIs, as the club pounded out 17 hits.

• Box score

"Baseball is not a try-harder sport. You try harder, and things don't get better," said Kapler, who credits a bunting competition in the cages for setting the tone on Sunday. "We're trying a little easier right now. We're still doing all the little things -- the preparation, the process, and we're actually adding to it, but we're doing it in a way that doesn't feel [like] tension. We're doing it in a way that feels light.

"Probably seeing some celebrations out there, and even [the] couple games we lost, you've seen some smiles on the faces of the guys in the dugout. It's the only way to play baseball. You have to play this game loose. If you're loose, you're more athletic; more athletic, more confident, and you get better results."

Philadelphia began play on June 1 nine games over .500 and three up in the National League East. That has since changed over the course of a month, as the Phillies went 11-16 in June and sit six back of the Braves, pending Sunday night's result between Atlanta and the Mets.

Following an off-day Monday, the Phillies will continue their road trip with three games in Atlanta. Philadelphia is 4-2 against the Braves, though it lost two of three in its lone trip to SunTrust Park from June 14-16.

"If we get a new month, then everybody's going to be positive, of course," said Harper, who is one hit shy of 1,000 and one homer shy of 200 for his career. "That's baseball. You have your ups and downs during the season. Hopefully you have more ups than downs, you win more series than you lose and get a winning record at the end of the year.

"We've got three months of baseball, and ride these next six games into the break. Big series here in Atlanta coming up -- hopefully play some good baseball and go into New York, play them well and enjoy the break and get back to work."

Harper, who did not make the All-Star team for the first time since 2014, has reached base in 16 consecutive games. Over the past seven games, the Phillies have recorded 30 extra-base hits, including 16 homers.

But entering Sunday, Philadelphia's lineup hadn’t been clicking on all cylinders, posting a .234/.308/.428 slash line in June. Those were down from May, when the team hit .248 with a .320 on-base percentage.

The pitching staff hadn't fared much better, compiling a 5.62 ERA and 1.51 WHIP this month, a significant drop-off from March/April (4.19 ERA, 1.38 WHIP) and May (4.11 ERA, 1.33 WHIP).

Righty Jake Arrieta looked like Arrieta through five innings on Sunday, but then surrendered three runs in the sixth after his club put up a seven-spot in the top half of the frame. It had been a mixed bag in June for Arrieta, with two quality starts sandwiched between a pair of five-run outings.

"The Braves aren't slowing down, and we've got some good teams in our division," said Arrieta, who allowed four runs over six innings for his eighth win. "It's more short term for us, we need to focus on winning series and not looking too far in advance. If you can win two out of three, which we are more than capable of -- and running into a couple sweeps here and there -- we'll be able to narrow the margin between ourselves and the Braves.

"Keep the other guys behind us. The guys in here are more than capable of winning ballgames on a consistent basis. Just have to continue to work, grind at-bats, be good on the bump and we'll be just fine."