PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper blooped a single into shallow right-center field in the sixth inning on Friday night. He reached first base, clapped, then turned toward his teammates in the dugout.
He gestured to them.
“Let’s go.”
At the moment, it looked like an act of encouragement. Looking back, however, it could’ve been an act of desperation. Please, let’s go! But the Phillies lost to the Rays at Citizens Bank Park, 2-0, and a once comfortable 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona on Sept. 1 for the final NL Wild Card spot has turned into a potentially historic collapse with two games to play in the regular season.
The Phils have lost three consecutive games and 13 of their last 21. Fans are angry. They booed their team throughout the game.
It feels bleak.
“You have to find a way to win a game tomorrow,” Kyle Schwarber said. “Keep trying to find a way to win games. We’ve got two left. We’ve still got the ball in our court right now, and if we go out there and we do what we need to do, we control our own future. And that's what we want. I wouldn't want it any other way than us to decide what happens.”
The 1964 Phillies infamously blew a 6 1/2-game lead with 12 games to play to lose the NL pennant to St. Louis. It is one of the worst collapses in baseball history. The name Chico Ruiz -- who sparked the Phillies’ 10-game losing streak by inexplicably stealing home in a 1-0 victory for the Reds -- still haunts fans old enough to remember Gene Mauch’s desperate attempts to save the season by pitching Jim Bunning and Chris Short eight times in the season’s final 12 games.
1964 is the only time in franchise history the Phillies have blown a 6+ game lead in September to miss the postseason, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
2026 would be the second, if the Phillies can’t find a way to win this weekend. With Arizona’s 11-4 win at San Diego on Friday night, the Phillies have a one-game lead with two games to play entering Saturday. Arizona holds the season tiebreaker.
It would help the Phillies if they scored, but they have scored three or fewer runs in nine of their last 12 games. They are 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position in their last three. Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly, coaches and players talked about it in the team’s pre-game hitter’s meeting.
What was the message?
“I mean, if I wanted to tell you the message, I would’ve asked you guys to be in there,” Mattingly said. “So, we just talked.”
Saturday will be a bullpen game for the Phillies with left-hander Jesús Luzardo on the injured list, making the situation more challenging. If the Phillies lose and don’t clinch on Saturday, Zack Wheeler will have to start Sunday to save the season. The Phillies want Wheeler to start Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday, but those plans will be trashed if he pitches.
“We know the situation,” Schwarber said. “We know what we're in. We want to do it our way. We want to have the ball in our court. We didn't get it done today. That’s the reality of the situation.
“I think that we look forward to the challenge.”
The Rays scored once in the first and once in the second on Friday to take a 2-0 lead. The tension in the crowd was palpable as fans booed inning-ending strikeouts in the third from Trea Turner and the fourth from Brandon Marsh.
Harper’s single in the sixth put runners on first and second with no outs. They did not score.
Mattingly treated this game like a do-or-die postseason game. He pinch-hit Bryan De La Cruz for Marsh against Rays left-hander Cam Booser in the sixth. Marsh has been one of baseball’s worst hitters since the All-Star break.
Mattingly then asked closer Jhoan Duran to pitch the eighth inning with a two-run deficit, showing everybody how desperate the Phillies were to keep the game close. If the Phillies took the lead or tied the game in the eighth, Duran would have pitched the ninth.
“Whatever happened tonight, we're not getting back,” Mattingly said.
Mattingly tried to keep a stiff upper lip after the game, but the reality of the situation seemed to be wearing on him.
“I guess I'd rather be in our spot than theirs because we can still control our own destiny,” he said. “So I mean, at this point, none of that matters, how daunting it looks or what it looks like. We’ve just got to win a game.”