Phillies’ bullpen blows five-run lead en route to 10-inning loss to Mariners

SEATTLE — Jeff Hoffman pitched 43 times in 119 days without entering a game before the sixth inning. But there he was Saturday night, trotting in from the bullpen to inherit a four-run lead in the sixth inning.

Think the Phillies were desperate for a victory?

Inexplicably, it didn’t happen. Hoffman gave up four earned runs — one more than he allowed in total since the middle of April — and it was the shot to the jaw before the knockout blow. That came in the 10th inning, when new closer Carlos Estévez walked Mitch Haniger with the bases loaded after seemingly having struck him out three pitches earlier.

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“Come on, man,” Estévez said after the Phillies blew a five-run lead in a 6-5 gut punch by the Mariners. “I mean, it’s harder to strike out someone with five strikes instead of three, you know?”

Oh, the Phillies know. All too well, actually. Since the All-Star break, they have coughed up three-run leads in losses to the Pirates (July 19), Twins (July 24), Guardians (July 28), and Yankees (July 30). And just when you thought they had hit rock bottom, well, they sank even deeper.

Make it six losses in a row and 13 in 17 games. It’s the Phillies’ worst 17-game stretch of the Bryce Harper era. Not since Sept. 11-28, 2018, when the Sons of Gabe Kapler went 4-13 to freefall out of the wild-card race.

OK, so these Phillies are a long way from facing similar peril. At 65-45, they still have the best record in the National League, after all, and a five-game lead in the division. Their smoking-hot start gave them adequate insulation in case of a midseason malaise.

But wins have been so elusive lately that manager Rob Thomson wasn’t taking even a 5-1 lead for granted. So, he went with Hoffman, his most dominant reliever, against the righty-heavy top of the Mariners’ order in the sixth inning with the intention of using Matt Strahm, José Alvarado, and Estévez in the seventh, eighth, and ninth.

“He’s the guy that I trust, I still trust,” Thomson said of Hoffman. “Lefty, righty, doesn’t matter. They were on him tonight.”

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Indeed, Hoffman gave up a leadoff single on a dirt-diving splitter to Randy Arozarena, and it only got worse from there. He fell behind in the count to Justin Turner before hitting him with a pitch and allowed a one-out RBI single to Jorge Polanco.

Hoffman issued a two-out walk to Haniger to load the bases for pinch-hitting Luke Raley, who banged a first-pitch slider off the base of the left-field wall for a two-run double to close the margin to 5-4.

And Josh Rojas tied it one batter later with a rocket off Harper’s glove. Harper actually saved a run by recovering to throw out Raley at the plate.

Hoffman wasn’t at his locker when the clubhouse opened to the media. But his problem was easy to see and familiar to other Phillies’ relievers lately.

“I definitely think the command hasn’t quite been there,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “They’re behind the count a lot more than we were used to seeing early in the year. We’re walking more guys. We’re hitting more guys. You’d have to ask them if that’s from them being tired or not, but when I’m catching them, the stuff still feels good. It just feels like the command isn’t there.”

There were other culprits behind the latest loss. The Phillies went 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They chased high fastballs, fished for breaking balls, and struck out 12 times. They left 10 runners on base.

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Harper ended an 0-for-24 drought — part of an overall 2-for-38 skid — with a double to the gap in left-center field to cap a 12-pitch duel with Mariners starter Bryce Miller in the fourth inning. But after getting called out on strikes in the ninth inning on a pitch that appeared to be inside, he showed his frustration by waving his arms at umpire Ryan Willis.

Estévez pushed the game to extras with an 11-pitch ninth inning. In the 10th, he hit a batter to load the bases with two out. Realmuto wanted the 1-2 pitch to Haniger to be up and in. Estévez missed his spot but still threw a strike, according to Statcast. Willis saw it differently.

“I was chasing it, and you’re almost never going to get the call when you’re that late to catching the ball,” Realmuto said. “I was just frustrated that I knew it was a strike and it wasn’t going to be called.”

Three pitches later, the team that rarely lost for three months found yet another way to lose.

The Phillies continue to insist that it will turn around. Estévez is sure of it, especially compared to what he experienced with the noncontending Angels before being traded to the Phillies at the deadline.

“Winning team, first place. Everyone wants to be on a team like that,” Estévez said. “They were like, ‘Man, we’re doing really bad right now, but we got this.’ I’m like, ‘I know you guys got this. I know we got this.’ Because I have seen it. I’ve been seeing it for years from the other side. I know these guys have the stuff to do it, so I’m not worried about it.”

Now, it will fall on ace Zack Wheeler to ward off a sweep Sunday before a three-city, 10-day West Coast swing continues at Dodger Stadium, where the Phillies will surely find little relief.

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“It’s something different every night,” Realmuto said. “We’re just in a funk where we’re just finding ways to lose games. We had the lead in multiple games now, multiple-run leads, and not been able to hold it. There have been games where we’ve pitched great and just haven’t put any runs on the board.

“We have too much talent in this clubhouse and we have the right guys in here to be able to withstand something like this and be better on the other side for it.”