The Phillies spent Saturday assembling a pitching plan designed to survive nine innings.
It worked well enough to win.
Their offense did not.
Philadelphia used seven pitchers, received three solid innings from a 32-year-old making his major league debut and held the Yankees to seven hits. None of it mattered because the Phillies managed only one first-inning run in a 3-1 loss at Citizens Bank Park.
The defeat dropped the Phillies to 2-6 on a nine-game homestand that has included series against the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees. They have also fallen to 14-33 when Zack Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo or Cristopher Sánchez does not start.
The frustrating part was how promising the night began.
Ryan Weathers hit Trea Turner with a pitch to open the bottom of the first, and Kyle Schwarber followed with a double. The Phillies had runners at second and third before recording an out.
Bryce Harper brought Turner home with a sacrifice fly, but the inning stopped there. Weathers retired Alec Bohm and Edmundo Sosa, stranding Schwarber at third and limiting what could have been a significant opening statement to a single run.
The Phillies never scored again.
Weathers entered after three consecutive difficult outings but recovered to allow one run on six hits over 5⅔ innings. He struck out seven and walked one. Philadelphia finished with seven hits overall, but four came from Bryan De La Cruz and J.T. Realmuto, while Harper, Bohm, Sosa and Bryson Stott combined to go hitless.
The Yankees’ bullpen allowed one hit over the final 3⅓ innings. Paul Blackburn handled the seventh and eighth before David Bednar retired the Phillies in order in the ninth for his 20th save.
Philadelphia’s improvised pitching arrangement gave the lineup every opportunity.
Tim Mayza opened with two perfect innings, needing only 20 pitches. Brian Keller followed in his major league debut and allowed two hits over three innings while striking out three.
The lone blemish came in the third when Austin Wells drove a two-out, opposite-field home run to tie the game. The 430-foot homer was the longest of Wells’ career, but Keller otherwise looked composed against the organization that selected him in the 39th round of the 2016 draft.
The game turned in the sixth, and the Phillies helped it happen.
Kyle Backhus walked Wells with two outs before Paul Goldschmidt lifted a popup into shallow left. Sosa, positioned deep in the outfield, could not reach it. Turner attempted an over-the-shoulder catch, but the ball glanced off his glove.
It was ruled a hit, but it extended the inning. Cody Bellinger followed with a single to center off Seth Johnson, bringing Wells home with the go-ahead run.
Jasson DomÃnguez added insurance with a solo homer off José Alvarado in the seventh.
Even then, the Phillies remained within reach. Matt Bowlan worked a scoreless eighth, and Jhoan Duran struck out the side in the ninth. The pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts and one walk while limiting New York to three runs.
That should have been enough.
Instead, the Phillies lost for the second consecutive night because their lineup again failed to produce. They have scored one run through the first two games of the series and wasted quality pitching performances in both.
Saturday was supposed to be the difficult game to navigate. The Phillies had no conventional starter and needed seven pitchers to complete it.
They found the innings.
They could not find the offense.
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