Dylan Covey provides a spark for Phillies, but lack of offense snuffs it in loss to Diamondbacks

Dylan Covey had only been on the Phillies’ active roster for six hours when he took the mound on Tuesday night, but nevertheless, he gave his new team what they needed. At first, it didn’t seem like he would. Covey, who was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers on Saturday, allowed a single and an RBI triple in his first two at-bats of the third inning. But he settled in after that.

Covey induced a lineout and two strikeouts to end the third. After taking the ball from Matt Strahm, who allowed two earned runs over the first two innings, Covey gave the Phillies five frames of one run ball, allowing five hits and one walk with six strikeouts. He kept them in the game. Unfortunately for the Phillies, their bats were unable to do the same, in a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Whenever Covey did struggle, he bounced back quickly. After allowing a double and a walk with one out in the fourth inning, he induced a flyout and a pop-out to end the inning. After he allowed a double with no outs in the sixth, he induced three straight outs to avoid any damage.

“He knuckled down when it mattered and got out of those innings,” said manager Rob Thomson. “That could have gotten away from us right there. He showed a lot of toughness, poise. Got it done.”

It took the lineup a while to capitalize on Covey’s performance, but in the seventh inning, they did. After managing three hits and one run off of Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson over six innings, the Phillies loaded the bases with a walk, a double, and a hit by pitch with one out in the seventh. Kody Clemens, who put them on the board with an RBI double in the second inning, drove Bryce Harper home with a force out. Alec Bohm — who was pinch-hitting after a frustrating week-long slump — hit an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.

» READ MORE: How a small change has led to a big improvement for the Phillies’ Bryson Stott

That positive momentum did not last long. Seranthony Domínguez took over for Covey in the eighth inning and was unable to record an out. He threw only 11 pitches but less than half of them were strikes. Domínguez allowed a double, a walk, and an RBI single to give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead. The right-handed reliever had not allowed an earned run since April 14.

Gregory Soto, who entered in relief of Dominguez, kept it there. With runners on first and second and no outs, he tossed a strikeout, allowed a walk to load the bases, and tossed another strikeout and induced a forceout to end the inning.

The Phillies tried to rally again in the eighth but to no avail. With two outs, Harper hit a line drive double and Nick Castellanos took a walk to put runners on first and second for Kyle Schwarber. But Schwarber hit a lineout to center field that Dominic Fletcher just barely caught, and the inning was over. As he saw Fletcher make the catch, Schwarber slammed his helmet. It was a frustrating moment in what has been a frustrating few months for the Phillies.

Over their past seven games, they’ve combined for a team batting average of .223 -- which ranks 23rd in baseball -- and a team OPS of .686 -- which ranks 20th in baseball. It’s not what anyone expected from a team that was build to hit.

“I’m not sure (why the lineup hasn’t clicked),” said Harper. “Just got to keep trying to have good at-bats, trying to get on base, doing the things we can to be that team. There’s nothing else we can really talk about besides we got to get the job done, but we’re not doing it. We’ve got to flush as quick as possible, and we’re going against one of the best tomorrow (in Zac Gallen), so got to get some sleep and get to it tomorrow.”

Yunior Marte pitched a scoreless and hitless inning in the ninth, but the Phillies were unable to muster another rally after that. J.T. Realmuto grounded out, Clemens flied out, and Bohm lined out.

The Phillies have lost seven of their last nine games.

Thomson said that outfielder Brandon Marsh was scratched from the lineup ahead of Tuesday’s game because he didn’t want him to take a swing. The Phillies say that Marsh has inflammation in his right shoulder and is day-to-day. They are going to re-evaluate him on Wednesday and see if he can play in Wednesday’s game.

“He was available to pinch run,” said Thomson. “He would have ran or played defense in the ninth or tenth inning (tonight). We didn’t want him swinging a bat.

“It’s been going on for a little bit but he’s been fighting through it. He’s a tough guy. It was just getting to the point where we concerned it was changing the swing, and maybe it was creating a bad habit, so we wanted to just shut him down today so he could get treatment and try to work it out.”

» READ MORE: Bishop Eustace grad Zac Gallen emerging with the Diamondbacks