Phillies' weekend of mistakes leads to a brutal series loss in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — The Phillies made far too many fundamental mistakes to win their weekend series, even against a team playing as poorly as the Pirates.

They lost Sunday afternoon, 6-4 in 10 innings, to end a wretched 24 hours of baseball. They held a three-run lead Saturday and a two-run lead Sunday but committed ghastly miscues in the field and on the bases to give away both games.

On Sunday, shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Edmundo Sosa didn't communicate clearly enough on a routine pop-up between the two. The ball clanged off both of their gloves and fell in for an error in the seventh inning and that runner came around to score on a single/E-8 on Johan Rojas, who bobbled the ball to allow Connor Joe an extra base.

"Both calling it at the same time," Turner said. "Once I started calling it, I heard him, but at that point, I didn't want to back off and us just be standing there looking at each other. Just bad communication on my part. Should have let him catch the ball. I dropped the ball and just didn't get the job done."

The Phillies escaped that inning with a one-run lead but Yunior Marte gave it back in the eighth. The Pirates walked it off in the 10th inning on a a Josh Palacios two-run homer off Andrew Vasquez.

The Phillies blew a chance to score in the top of the 10th. Bryce Harper began the inning on second base and the Phillies quickly had two runners in scoring position when Alec Bohm hit an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by the third baseman. Turner hit a flyball to right field and Henry Davis, the former first overall pick and catcher with a rocket arm, caught the ball with momentum and fired a seed to the plate. Harper took off but stopped less than halfway when he saw how strong the throw was. Bohm figured Harper was going and ran to third. He was too far off, a rundown ensued and Harper was nailed at the plate.

"All weekend," manager Rob Thomson said. "Communication on pop-ups, we've seen that a few times this year. Baserunning mistakes. We've got to clean it all up and we will."

A lot happened Sunday. Before the late-game gaffes, many were curious why Cristopher Sanchez was pulled after five hitless, scoreless innings on just 73 pitches. When he was removed, Seranthony Dominguez gave up a single and two-run homer to the first two hitters he faced and the game was tied.

It turns out that Sanchez had been dealing with a stomach bug all day.

"I had a little stomach ache going on, I didn't feel like I had too much energy today," Sanchez said. "I told (Thomson) that I could go back out but he wanted to take care of me."

Thomson said that he might have removed Sanchez even if he was feeling better because it was the top of the order due up for the third time and he felt Sanchez wasn't as sharp as usual. He threw five no-hit innings but did hit three batters and walk two.

That decision affected the rest of the game. Dominguez gave up the lead in the sixth, which required Jeff Hoffman to enter. Gregory Soto had the seventh, which meant Marte was the best option left for the eighth. Matt Strahm had pitched two innings the prior night and Craig Kimbrel was being saved for the ninth.

"(Sanchez) probably had 15 pitches left," Thomson said. "Top of the order, third time through. And he wasn't feeling well all day. He said, 'No, I'm OK,' but I want to take care of the kid, make sure he got out of there on a good note.

"He had done his job. He wasn't exactly sharp. I know he didn't allow a hit, but he hit three guys, walks, he wasn't as sharp as he normally was. He wasn't going to get a no-hitter, he was going to run out of pitches.

"He's got my trust, I just wanted to make sure he was OK."

Sanchez has the lowest WHIP (0.84) in all of Major League Baseball since being recalled from Triple A on June 17. He has a 2.30 ERA in those eight starts with 36 strikeouts and just six walks in 43 innings.

"We knew he was sick going into today and we'd only get a couple out of him," Harper said. "But you look at his numbers the last couple starts, he's been lights out. If he keeps doing that, he'll be around for a while."

Harper and Turner expressed frustration postgame with the way the weekend went. The Phillies should have at least won the series and could have swept. They were on the board first Sunday with a two-run home run from Bohm. Harper put them ahead again with an RBI single in the seventh and Bohm followed with one of his own. Seven of the last eight runs Harper has driven in have either tied the game or given the Phillies a lead.

It was all for naught.

"Big opportunity to come in here and do some work and we weren't able to do that," Harper said. "When talent doesn't play well or play smart, you get beat. You've got to do the little things right, playing defense, hitting timely. It doesn't matter who you're playing. It's still the big leagues and any given team can win. You saw that this weekend."

Now the Phillies move on to Miami for a crucial four-game series. They ended the weekend out of a playoff spot, a half-game behind the Marlins and Brewers, who are in the second and third wild-card positions. Just two games separate the top wild-card (San Francisco) from second team out (Arizona).

The Marlins are making moves. They acquired Mets closer David Robertson over the weekend and are in still search of other upgrades.

"It's a really good team down there, we're going to face some really good pitching," Harper said. "They're adding guys and I'd imagine they add more guys by the time we get down there."