The Phillies finally created the opening they had spent most of Friday night waiting for.J.T. Realmuto singled. Gabriel Rincones Jr. was hit by a pitch. Edmundo Sosa came off the bench and lined a single to right. The bases were loaded in the eighth inning, there was one out and the top of the order was coming up.
They still could not score.
Trea Turner lined out to left. Kyle Schwarber grounded to second. Three runners were left stranded, and Paul Goldschmidt’s fourth-inning home run held up as the only offense in the Phillies’ 1-0 loss to the Yankees at Citizens Bank Park.
Philadelphia managed four hits, went down in order in the ninth and fell to 2-5 since the All-Star break. A lineup filled with accomplished hitters could not provide even one run for Jesús Luzardo, who delivered seven strong innings and continued one of the best stretches of his season.
Luzardo allowed one run on three hits, struck out nine and walked one. His only costly mistake came when Goldschmidt opened the fourth inning by driving a 2-0 sinker over the right-field wall.
“Sinker down, 2-0, just trying to get back in the zone, and he just put a good swing on it,” Luzardo said.
That was all New York needed.
Luzardo faced his most serious trouble in the fifth. Jasson Domínguez singled, and Anthony Volpe reached when Turner committed a fielding error. After Luzardo retired the next two hitters, he hit Ali Sánchez to load the bases.
Goldschmidt returned to the plate with an opportunity to break the game open, but Luzardo induced a grounder to Turner and escaped with the deficit still at one.
He has posted a 1.46 ERA over his last eight starts, a run of consistency that has too often been met with limited offensive support.
On Friday, Yankees starter Cam Schlittler was even better.
Schlittler scattered three hits and struck out 12 over 7⅓ scoreless innings. He retired the first 10 Phillies before Schwarber doubled in the fourth, but Bryce Harper grounded out and Brandon Marsh struck out, leaving Schwarber at third.
Harper finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Turner also went hitless, leaving the Phillies’ first three hitters a combined 1-for-12 with five strikeouts.
Realmuto accounted for two of the three hits surrendered by Schlittler. His eighth-inning single helped produce Philadelphia’s best chance, but the Phillies could not turn traffic into a run.
Jonathan Bowlan struck out the side in the eighth, and José Alvarado worked around a leadoff hit batter in the ninth. The pitching staff allowed only one run and kept the game within reach from beginning to end.
The offense never responded.
“We’ve been playing good teams, but we’d definitely like to be playing better baseball,” Realmuto said. “I think we’re just a little inconsistent right now throughout the lineup. Not scoring enough runs, to be quite frank, and our defense has scuffled a little bit.
“Obviously, the talent is there. We feel good about our team. We’re not playing our best baseball right now. We’ve got to get it turned around and get going.”
Interim manager Don Mattingly pointed to the quality of pitching the Phillies have encountered during a difficult stretch against the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees.
“We’ve run into some guys that throw the ball well,” Mattingly said. “I think we’re just in a little bit of a lull right now. Don’t want to read too much into it.”
The Phillies may view it as a lull.
Seven games out of the break, however, it has already produced five losses—and wasted another performance good enough to win.
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