‘Stop talking about it and start doing it’: Phillies’ frustrations rise after fourth straight loss

SAN FRANCISCO — Trea Turner walked up to the plate in the ninth inning Wednesday with the bases loaded, two out, and a chance to deliver his first signature Phillies moment.

And he missed it. Literally.

Turner waved at a nasty slider, striking out to end a 7-4 loss to the Giants that completed a three-game sweep. The Phillies didn’t so much as leave their hearts in San Francisco as they forgot their bats in Denver. In dropping the last four games, they went 2-for-39 — 2-for-39! — with runners in scoring position.

It continued a maddening pattern of chasing modest winning streaks with losing skids. And now, as they head into a day off at home Thursday, they are 20-23, with more than a quarter of the season gone and a week until a four-game showdown with the division-leading Braves.

There’s a lot to fix before that.

“It’s a million things, right?” said Turner, near the top of the list. “You can point at individual play, or offense, or defense, or whatever. But at the end of the day, you’ve just got to find ways to win games and be more consistent.

“We have the talent. We have the mentality in here. It’s just a matter of actually doing it. Stop talking about it and start doing it. I feel like we’ve been talking, talking, talking the first 40 games. It’s time to play better.”

It begins, as ever, with the starting pitching. Twice in three games against the Giants, the Phillies’ starter got knocked out in the first inning.

This time, it was Taijuan Walker. The Phillies signed him to a four-year, $72 million contract to fortify the middle of the rotation. Instead, he has a 6.53 ERA after giving up four runs, getting two outs, and throwing 40 pitches in his shortest start since July 18, 2021.

But there are other problems. The Phillies entered the game with the fourth-highest total of hits in the National League. But they scored the sixth-fewest runs. They keep insisting the offense will come. It hasn’t arrived.

With the Phillies trailing 4-0 in the fourth inning, J.T. Realmuto came up with the biggest hit of the week, a two-run double inside the left-field line to halve the deficit against Giants starter Ross Stripling. But it was the Phillies’ lone hit with a runner on second or third base. They stranded seven runners.

The Phillies eventually tied the game on Bryson Stott’s fifth-inning solo homer to the platform above McCovey Cove. But hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto — the sixth reliever of the game — gave up three runs in the eighth to break the stalemate.

“There’s obvious frustration,” said Kyle Schwarber, who went 0-for-3 to leave his season average at .175. “We all want to play better, but there’s also still so much more to go. We feel like we really haven’t even hit the stride yet. We’re going to get to that point. We’ve got to keep fighting and figure out a way to get there.”

The whole thing brought back echoes from last year. The Phillies got swept in San Francisco in September, and Schwarber stood in the clubhouse and exuded calm. “We’re going to be fine,” he said then.

And now?

“This game’s not easy. It’s really humbling,” Turner said. “You come into the year thinking you’re on a high from last year and you’ve got some new pieces, and it kicks you right in the mouth. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Turner is one of those new pieces, the $300 million shortstop who is batting .262 with a .707 on-base plus slugging through 43 games.

But Turner notched two hits earlier in the series finale against the Giants. One more, and it would’ve felt like the springboard to everything the Phillies are expecting from him.

“For sure. That’s how I was looking at it,” Turner said. “I felt like it was building up to that. I know I’m a good player. It’s just things that I’ve been good at in the past I’m not doing well. Two-strike hitting, stuff like that. I’m striking out way too much. It’s tough.”

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Entering the game, Soto had struck out 30.7% of the batters he faced this season. It was stunning, then, that seven consecutive Giants hitters put the ball in play against him in the eighth.

Thairo Estrada broke the 4-4 tie by dunking a single into center field. Two batters later, Wilmer Flores hit a two-run single through the left side to give the Giants a three-run lead.

“[Soto] has been pitching so well, and he’s been missing a lot of bats,” manager Rob Thomson said. “They just touched him up a little bit. Again, that happens. He’s got to get back on it. But I have a lot of trust in him. He’s been fantastic.”

It spoiled an otherwise splendid performance by the bullpen. After Walker, the Phillies passed the baton among six relievers. Matt Strahm, Connor Brogdon, Andrew Vasquez, Andrew Bellatti, and Seranthony Domínguez put up zeroes.

Since April 16, the Phillies’ bullpen has a collective 2.47 ERA.

The Phillies have lost seven consecutive games at Oracle Park dating to 2021. Since they fired manager Gabe Kapler and he got hired by San Francisco, the Phillies are 3-12 against the Giants.

It also marked the second time this month that the Phillies got swept in a series in California. They were broomed in three games at Dodger Stadium two weeks ago.

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