J.T. Realmuto hits for the cycle, yet Phillies fall to Diamondbacks, 9-8

PHOENIX — On the night that J.T. Realmuto hit for the cycle, becoming the first Phillies player to do so since David Bell in 2004, it would have been fitting for the Phillies to pull off a triumphant, come-from-behind win. And they almost did. In the ninth inning, Bryson Stott drove in Realmuto with an RBI single, to make it a one-run game, and Kody Clemens, pinch-hitting, worked his at-bat to a 3-2 count, and hit a foul ball that towered towards the right field foul pole.

At first, the Phillies thought it was a home run. Clemens began to run the bases. But upon review, it was called foul. He struck out on the next pitch. It was a crushing way to lose.

But it was a somewhat unsurprising outcome, given who the Phillies were facing. With the Phillies’ 9-8 loss on Monday night, the Diamondbacks now have 20 come from behind wins. That’s tied for third-most in baseball. It’s become part of their identity. On some nights, it’s the Phillies’ identity too, and to their credit, they battled.

Bryce Harper hit an RBI double in the seventh and Bohm hit an RBI single to keep the game within reach. Bryson Stott made his late game rally in the ninth. But the bats weren’t the problem. They went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position and scored eight runs on 13 hits.

The bullpen was the problem. The Phillies entered the bottom of the third inning with a 5-1 lead. The relievers could not hold onto it. The Diamondbacks tacked two runs on in the third. They tacked on two more in the fourth. And in the sixth, they tacked on four. All of their runs came with two outs.

The bullpen has posted a 5.87 ERA over the past week. This could be the wear and tear of all the bullpen games the Phillies are using in lieu of a fifth starter. But regardless, it doesn’t seem sustainable. Five of the six Phillies relievers used on Monday night gave up at least two earned runs. The only one who didn’t was Jeff Hoffman, who pitched a scoreless frame in the eighth.

Most of the relievers who struggled on Monday have been good of late. Yunior Marté made some mistakes in the middle of the plate and gave up his first earned run since May 2. Before his outing on Monday, Andrew Vasquez had only give up two earned runs since May 1. Their outings tonight were surprising.

Dylan Covey’s was not. The Phillies have used him only five times since he was claimed off waivers on May 20. His first outing was solid. His next four have not been. Covey now has a 9.00 ERA through 10 innings pitched for the Phillies this season.

Covey allowed just one walk in the fifth inning, but quickly allowed two hits and a sac fly in the sixth. He was charged with the loss, allowing two earned runs, two hits, and one walk, with two strikeouts through 1.1 innings pitched.

If the Phillies aren’t able to trust Covey in high leverage spots, or to give them bulk innings, it’s unclear why they continue to run him out there. There aren’t many options, but one would think they would trust Andrew Bellatti — a proven entity who has allowed two earned runs since he returned to triple-A — more.

Regardless, it doesn’t seem like the bullpen game formula is sustainable.

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“It’s tough, because you have to have so many guys that are on that night,” said Realmuto. “And if you’re throwing six or seven pitchers out there, and really to win a ball game, everybody has to be on, or have a pretty good day that day. It’s tough to count on that many guys very often.

“So, obviously it’s better to have a starter in there who can go five or six and feel good and manipulate the lineup a couple of times, have a better game plan. It’s kind of like you’re flying by the seam of your pants with the bullpen games, there’s a little less prep going on because you don’t know how the game is going to go.”

“If we do (show wear and tear) we’ll make some changes,” Thomson added. “We’ll discuss what we need for tomorrow and see if we’re okay for tomorrow.”

In the bottom of the third inning, Strahm hit Diamondbacks left fielder Corbin Carroll with a pitch. It was the second time that Carroll had been hit by Strahm that night. Manager Torey Lovullo came storming out of the dugout, and began talking to Realmuto.

All of a sudden, the benches and bullpens cleared. But it didn’t escalate further than that. No punches were thrown, but Lovullo was ejected.

“I think it looked a little worse on video than what it actually was,” Realmuto said. “He wasn’t challenging me at all. He wasn’t saying anything derogatory or anything. He was just backing his player up. At one point he was saying I would do the same thing to you, if you were on my team, I would back you up too. Like, pointing at my chest. So it looked like he was saying something bad at me, but he really wasn’t. He was just defending his player.”

“To me, it was a little blown out of proportion. We had a 5-1 lead at the time, we were trying to get him out. The whole stadium knew we weren’t trying to hit him there. We were just trying to get outs. We got a really good left handed hitter that covers the outside of the plate really well, and we have a lefty who throws sinkers in a lot. I’m not going to not call sinkers in because he happened to get hit his first at bat. We still have to pitch to a game plan, we still have to pitch to Strahm’s strengths, he just let two get away from him.”

Strahm confirmed after the game that he was not trying to throw at Carroll. He said that because of the warnings that were issued to both benches by the umpires, he felt he pitched more tentatively -- which he believed cost him in the Pavin Smith at-bat. Smith hit a two-RBI single two at-bats after the benches cleared.

“My philosophy is when I pitch inside, I’m going to miss inside,” Strahm said. “I’m not going to miss over the plate. So if you take that away from me, stuff like the Pavin Smith at-bat happen. Leave it more middle because I know I can’t miss inside. So (the umpires) kept telling me, there’s warnings‚ but don’t stop pitching inside, we’re not taking the inside away from you. Which — I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. I just don’t understand that.”

Added Realmuto: “It definitely affected the rest of Strahm’s outing, because you don’t want to hit anybody. You don’t want Strahm to get tossed and get suspended. So I think he was trying to throw to big parts of the plate. And it could have cost him there against the lefty who cut the single.”

» READ MORE: Despite hitting for the cycle, J.T. Realmuto laments close Phillies loss to Diamondbacks