Phils lose steam, drop Game 2 of twin bill

The Phillies maintained their second-place standing in the National League East, but they couldn’t complete what would have been a huge -- and long-awaited -- seven-inning doubleheader sweep against the Marlins on Friday at Marlins Park.

After an offensive barrage and an Aaron Nola gem in Game 1, the Phillies ran out of runs and the bullpen ran out of outs in Game 2, falling 5-3. Three games into the seven-game series in Miami, Philadelphia is a half-game ahead of the third-place Marlins.

The Phillies, who won Game 1 by an 11-0 count, had been trying to earn their first doubleheader sweep since Sept. 9, 2012, against the Rockies. They are 0-11-9 in twin bills since.

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“We had a chance to win two,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We had a chance to score some runs in the second game and just didn’t get it done.”

With Zack Wheeler’s status for Monday iffy after the middle fingernail on his throwing hand was partially torn from the skin on a pair of jeans, the Phillies had to juggle their rotation and turn it over to the ‘pen for Game 2. An all-bullpen affair was a dicey proposition for a Phils team carrying the highest relief ERA (7.47) in baseball, particularly with Girardi trying to stay away from Héctor Neris, JoJo Romero and Tommy Hunter because of their recent workloads.

It started out promisingly, with starter Blake Parker retiring all six batters faced, striking out three. The Phillies briefly took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but Lewis Brinson’s solo homer off Heath Hembree in the bottom of the inning tied it up.

That was the fifth of eight appearances since joining the Phillies in a midseason trade in which Hembree allowed a home run. His 9.95 ERA with his new club obviously hasn’t cured the Phils’ bullpen woes.

“Balls up in the zone,” Girardi said. “Just bad misses. He was trying to go down and away [to Brinson], and it ended up middle-in. The game still comes down to location, and he has not been locating well lately.”

The rest of the Phillies relievers Girardi turned to in this one managed to keep the ball in the park. But a singles scene broke out in the fourth, and that was enough to put Philadelphia behind for good.

A trail of three straight Marlins singles started the inning against lefty Ranger Suárez. The last of those, from Isan Díaz, drove in a run, and Girardi turned to right-hander David Hale. Miguel Rojas loaded the bases with a bunt single, and one out later, Jorge Alfaro scooted a ground-ball single through the middle to bring two runs home and make it 4-1.

Andrew McCutchen drove in his first run of the game and fourth of the day to cut the Marlins' lead to two in the fifth. But the Marlins added an insurance run in the sixth, and J.T. Realmuto’s RBI single after a Bryce Harper ground-rule double in the seventh was not enough to complete a comeback.

If nothing else, the Phillies hope that double can spark Harper, who was 7-for-his-past-58 prior to that at-bat and hasn’t homered since Aug. 22.

“During this, he’s hit some balls hard and lined out and hasn’t had any luck,” Girardi said. “So maybe it’s turning.”

The Phillies are hoping for a turn in this Miami marathon Saturday. They are 1-2 in what is considered a pivotal sequence of games for both postseason hopefuls, and they’ll be sending rookie Spencer Howard, who has had trouble going deep into games thus far in his big league tenure, to the hill in Game 4, hoping he can spare the bullpen.

“We need him to pitch a good game,” Girardi said. “We need him to give us five or six good innings. He’s gotten through lineups pretty well the first time. Now we need him to do it the second time and go from there.”

Fending off the Fish is the goal of a long, long weekend in southeast Florida. The Phillies know they’re going to need more than just Nola to achieve that goal.