Castellanos and Turner discuss what's gone wrong at the plate

PITTSBURGH — The Phillies lost Saturday's game against the Pirates for numerous reasons — Aaron Nola didn't have it, the defense was costly at three different spots, too many runners were stranded — but two of their struggling hitters were at the forefront of a frustrating night.

Trea Turner, who had gone hitless in three consecutive games and entered the day with his lowest batting average (.242) in nearly two months, was moved down in the lineup from second to seventh. He won't reclaim his spot toward the top of the order until he shows improvement at the plate, manager Rob Thomson said earlier in the day.

Nick Castellanos, who took Turner's place in the two-hole Saturday as Thomson attempted to get him more pitches to hit in front of Bryce Harper, had another rough night. He went 0-for-5, struck out three times, stranded the bases loaded in the sixth inning and the tying and go-ahead runs to end the eighth. He also misplayed a ball in right field that went over his head.

Castellanos is 10-for-85 over his last 21 games, hitting .118 with two extra-base hits, two walks and 33 strikeouts.

"Just been no good, man, honestly," he said postgame. "Hard time just finding that consistent rhythm. Since the second half, it's been bad. Sometimes I find myself in a hole and I want to get out of it and the harder I try, the deeper I get. Just got to stay at it and stay working."

Castellanos sixth-inning strikeout with the bases loaded was particularly ugly. He went down 0-2 in the count and swung at a slider well off the plate. That was the way teams attacked him throughout 2022 because he couldn't lay off the low-and-away breaking ball consistently. He'd get himself out time after time.

"I think that teams are just not wanting to throw me strikes because I'm anxious and I want to hit so bad that I'm not letting myself get anything to hit," he said.

Turner had a better night, going 1-for-3 with a stolen base, a run scored and a walk. He accepted Thomson's decision to move him down and it's not as if he was surprised by it. At no point this season has Turner deluded himself from the reality of his underperformance. He's spoken candidly about the adjustments he's made and flaws he's seen in his swing or approach. He just hasn't been able to turn it around.

Asked if he thought the lineup change could help him, Turner said, "I think it can help the team, maybe."

"If I did my job better, then we wouldn't have had that conversation. Me personally, I just have to put together good at-bats, swing at good pitches, find that swing and kind of build some momentum.

"For me, it's stack good days on top of each other. I haven't been able to do that this year. Good game, bad game, good game, bad game, good stretch, bad stretch, but not long enough."

A lot of this is stuff Turner has never experienced. He was a .300 career hitter entering the season. He hit .311 from 2019-22. He's about 70 points south of that in 2023.

Did he even think it was possible that Trea Turner could be hovering between .240 and .250 as he's done this summer?

"The farthest thing from my mind just based on how the last four, five seasons have been," he said. "I think my worst season in my eyes was 2018 and I would take that year way over this year. I never really thought we'd be here but what we are. Got to grind it out. I can't get it all back in one day. Got to build on small things and try to win some ballgames."

It will be interesting to see which direction the Phillies go with the No. 2 spot in their batting order. Thomson still believes their best lineup has Turner hitting second, just not at this moment. Castellanos doesn't look like the right fit based on his July. J.T. Realmuto isn't getting on base enough. You can't realistically move Bryson Stott up top unless you also move Kyle Schwarber because you'd have three consecutive lefties in Stott, Schwarber and Harper.

"I think I'll leave Casty right there," Thomson said. "I like (Alec) Bohm and Stott where they're at because they're going to put the ball in play with runners in scoring position. We've got to get Casty going, that's all."