The Philadelphia Phillies have their backs against the wall with their postseason hopes in serious jeopardy.
The Phillies hope to snap out of their late-season funk on Saturday when they continue their home series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Philadelphia (87-73) has lost nine of its past 14 games and has managed a total of two runs during its current three-game slide. The Phillies were blanked by the Rays 2-0 on Friday, keeping their magic number at two to clinch a wild-card berth.
“Whatever happened tonight, we’re not getting (that performance) back,” Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly said Friday. “So we’ve got to do better tomorrow. That’s all there is to it. … We’ve got to score. At this point in the year, we’ve taken thousands of swings, we’ve taken thousands of groundballs. Guys have worked all year. It’s not about that. We’ve just got to be able to get it done now.”
The Phillies certainly aren’t getting any help from the Arizona Diamondbacks (86-74), who have won six straight games to close within one game of the Phillies. Both teams have two games left in the regular season. Should the teams tie, Arizona holds the tiebreaker.
“We’ve still got the ball in our court right now,” said Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber, who went 0-for-3 with a walk on Friday. “If we go out there (this weekend) and do what we need to do, we control our own future. … I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Freddy Peralta pitched 5 1/3 four-hit innings for Tampa Bay, while a quartet of relievers combined to close it out. Bryan Baker logged a 1-2-3 ninth for his 41st save as he lowered his ERA to 1.44.
“I think this is one of the best atmospheres we play in throughout the year — and obviously a really good team, too,” Baker said. “The more reps we get in that environment, I think, the better. It was really fun to get out there.”
Nick Fortes homered in Friday’s contest, while Jonny DeLuca knocked in the other run for the Rays, who had lost three of their previous four games. Tampa Bay (97-63) has clinched the top seed in the American League playoffs.
Griffin Jax (8-10, 3.62 ERA) will get the ball for the Rays in his final regular-season start. The right-hander has a 0.60 ERA in his past three outings and has not given up a run in either of his past two starts.
“We knew we were going to be a pretty special group and play some good baseball, but as the season kept going, we just continually played consistent ball every single night,” Jax said. “Confidence grew, expectations grew, and we just kept riding that train.”
Jax has appeared in three career games against Philadelphia as a reliever, but this will be his first start against the Phillies.
Philadelphia did not immediately announce a starter for Saturday’s game. The team is expected to go with a bullpen game with every pitcher available, aside from Friday starter Cristopher Sanchez.
“We’ll have to talk about that,” Mattingly said postgame when asked about Saturday’s starting pitcher. “It’s kind of all hands on deck.”
–Field Level Media
