It wasn’t a classic. It wasn’t loud. But it was one of those nights that reminds you just how thin the margin for error can be in May baseball. And on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies found themselves on the wrong side of it.
Masyn Winn launched an 0-1 pitch from Matt Strahm into the left-center seats in the seventh. Just like that, a 2-2 tie turned into a 3-2 Cardinals lead. Just like that, Strahm had given up his first home run of the season. Just like that, the Phillies were playing from behind — again.
And they had their chances. They always do. But they left eight runners on base and went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position — stranded like a SEPTA commuter eyeing a "Delays Due to Signal Problems" alert on the Market-Frankford Line.
Cristopher Sánchez continued to make his case as one of the most underrated arms in the National League. He struck out eight, walked one, and allowed just four hits across six innings. One of the two runs he allowed came courtesy of a fourth-inning sequence that would’ve made Rube Goldberg proud: a Nolan Arenado walk, a flyout overturned by replay, a wild pitch, and a routine grounder that somehow produced a run.
The Phillies answered immediately. J.T. Realmuto doubled and came around when Arenado booted a chopper off Edmundo Sosa’s bat. When Ivan Herrera homered in the sixth, Realmuto answered again — this time knocking in Kyle Schwarber with a fielder’s choice.
But the bats went quiet from there. Kyle Leahy silenced them for 2 1/3 innings. Former Phillie JoJo Romero wriggled out of an eighth-inning jam. Ryan Helsley closed the door with a crisp 1-2-3 ninth.
And Bryce Harper? He showed up Monday night with a new look — a buzz cut in a possible effort to shake his slump — but the results stayed the same. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and is now hitting just .214 over his last 30 games, with only two homers in his past 15.
So the winning streak is over. The Cardinals’ streak? Still alive and well at nine. And for the Phillies, it’s a reminder: In this league, good teams can’t just show up. They have to finish.
Quotable
Masyn Winn launched an 0-1 pitch from Matt Strahm into the left-center seats in the seventh. Just like that, a 2-2 tie turned into a 3-2 Cardinals lead. Just like that, Strahm had given up his first home run of the season. Just like that, the Phillies were playing from behind — again.
And they had their chances. They always do. But they left eight runners on base and went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position — stranded like a SEPTA commuter eyeing a "Delays Due to Signal Problems" alert on the Market-Frankford Line.
Cristopher Sánchez continued to make his case as one of the most underrated arms in the National League. He struck out eight, walked one, and allowed just four hits across six innings. One of the two runs he allowed came courtesy of a fourth-inning sequence that would’ve made Rube Goldberg proud: a Nolan Arenado walk, a flyout overturned by replay, a wild pitch, and a routine grounder that somehow produced a run.
The Phillies answered immediately. J.T. Realmuto doubled and came around when Arenado booted a chopper off Edmundo Sosa’s bat. When Ivan Herrera homered in the sixth, Realmuto answered again — this time knocking in Kyle Schwarber with a fielder’s choice.
But the bats went quiet from there. Kyle Leahy silenced them for 2 1/3 innings. Former Phillie JoJo Romero wriggled out of an eighth-inning jam. Ryan Helsley closed the door with a crisp 1-2-3 ninth.
And Bryce Harper? He showed up Monday night with a new look — a buzz cut in a possible effort to shake his slump — but the results stayed the same. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and is now hitting just .214 over his last 30 games, with only two homers in his past 15.
So the winning streak is over. The Cardinals’ streak? Still alive and well at nine. And for the Phillies, it’s a reminder: In this league, good teams can’t just show up. They have to finish.
Quotable
“I’ve always told this to people. Especially him, when he steps up to the plate, everyone is always expecting something to happen. Right? You’re expecting a great result to happen. I think that, the dugout thinks that, whatever it is. It gets frustrating. The game’s frustrating. You play so many of them. There could be a week span -- it could be tomorrow -- where everyone forgets about it. I think that’s the best thing about this game because everyone can have a short memory." - Kyle Schwarber, talking about Harper and his struggles at the plate, per MLB.com.
