Giants hit homers in the ninth and 10th to beat the Phillies, 5-4

Over the last 26 days, the Phillies have experienced a handful of “excruciating” — to use manager Joe Girardi’s word — late-inning losses. In three of those games, Corey Knebel gave up the decisive hit. On Monday, he allowed a ninth-inning home run.

Surely the Phillies closer has had better months.

“I wouldn’t say it’s [been] a tough month for me,” Knebel said after the Phillies lost again, 5-4, in 10 innings in a Memorial Day matinee against the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park. “I’ve had two bad outings in a row. Just two solo homers. That’s it.”

If only.

Knebel entered a 2-2 game and gave up a go-ahead solo homer to the Giants’ Evan Longoria on an elevated 96 mph fastball. Kyle Schwarber took him off the hook, if only temporarily, with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. But the Giants won it on Curt Casali’s two-run shot in the 10th against reliever Andrew Bellatti.

It marked the Phillies’ fourth consecutive loss and their 11th in the last 15 games. They are 11 games behind the division-leading New York Mets, their largest deficit on Memorial Day since 2017. The 2017 Phillies lost 99 games.

“We’ve been through a grueling 2½ weeks, and we’ve been through some really tough losses,” Girardi said. “They’ll respond.”

» READ MORE: Mickey Moniak returns, will play 'a lot' for Phillies

Longoria’s blow came less than 24 hours after Knebel coughed up a ninth-inning lead and lost in the 10th Sunday night in New York. Two weeks before that, Knebel was one strike from closing out a four-game Phillies sweep at Dodger Stadium. Instead, he gave up a triple, a walk, and a double in a 4-3 loss.

And then there were the three runs that he allowed May 5, when the Phillies made a 7-1 ninth-inning lead disappear in a gut-wrenching loss to the Mets.

In his last 11 appearances, Knebel has allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 12 hits and seven walks in 10⅔ innings for a 5.91 ERA. He has three blown saves and three losses in that stretch.

A month like this would get some closers removed from the role, at least temporarily. Girardi could turn to setup man Jeurys Familia or lefty Brad Hand, both of whom have closed in the past. But Knebel is hardly the only Phillies reliever who has struggled.

Earlier Monday, Girardi said Knebel “is still our closer.” He didn’t waver from that stance after the game.

“I believe in Knebel,” Girardi said. “I believe in everybody in that room. There’s a lot of fight in that room every day.”

The Phillies signed Knebel to a one-year, $10 million contract to be the closer despite not having closed since 2018 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He didn’t allow an earned run in his first six appearances and posted a 0.96 ERA through April.

His ERA now stands at 3.43.

“It’s baseball,” Knebel said. “You go in these slumps, you get out of them. That’s just how it is. You ride those hot streaks and you get out of the slumps. That’s it.”

Said Girardi: “We all know he’s going to get it done for us. I really believe that. Closers go through it, too. I’ve seen the greatest closers in the world blow saves and go through it, too. You’ve just got to bounce back.”

Knebel recorded the first two outs of the ninth inning before facing Longoria. He missed with a first-strike curveball to fall behind, then left a heater over the plate.

“Up-and-in would’ve been better,” Knebel said. “Missed over the plate. But the fastball’s been working good. I’m throwing it at spots. 1-0, he’s going to swing fastball there, I’m going to throw fastball. That’s it.”

It’s been that kind of month.

“Nah, it’s a loss,” Knebel said.

Common theme lately.

» READ MORE: Giants manager Gabe Kapler stands on the field for national anthem on Memorial Day

Phillies starter Kyle Gibson lost a six-pitch duel — and a 2-0 lead — when he hung a sinker to Wilmer Flores in the sixth inning.

Gibson quickly got ahead 0-2 against Flores, who extended the at-bat by fouling off back-to-back sinkers. After Gibson couldn’t get Flores to chase a slider outside, he left a sinker up in the zone for a two-run homer to left field.

Until then, Gibson mostly muted the Giants. Flores’ homer was the first hit against him since the first inning, when Nick Castellanos ran down a ball in the right-field gap to extinguish a two-on, two-out threat.

Despite the final outcome against the Giants, Gibson believes the Phillies will turn around their season.

“This is the probably the best team I’ve ever been on,” Gibson said. “I’ve been on teams that have been to the playoffs, and this is the best team I’ve ever been on. We have too many good players and too many good pitchers for it to not turn around. That’s just the basis of my belief.”

On a rare positive note, Castellanos and Rhys Hoskins staked the Phillies to a 2-0 lead with solo homers against Giants starter Logan Webb before Schwarber’s game-tying shot.

It marked only the second time in 25 home games that the Phillies hit three homers in a game. Several players have noted the ball doesn’t seem to be carrying as much at Citizens Bank Park. Perhaps the warmer weather will bring more homers.

“It’s no secret we haven’t slugged the way that we maybe thought we would,” Hoskins said. “It doesn’t mean that we won’t.”