Phillies lose to Marlins, Gabe Kapler gets ejected, and team’s collapse intensifies

Gabe Kapler stormed off the field Saturday afternoon with his team ahead, a dust cloud at home plate, and a crowd on their feet. It had been a week since the Phillies last won a game, but perhaps this — Kapler being ejected for the first time as manager — was the spark they needed.

Instead, another loss was near. Kapler, banished to the team’s clubhouse, watched from the bowels of Citizens Bank Park as a 5-3 loss to the Marlins unfolded. He watched on TV as his bullpen collapsed, another player failed to run out a would-be hit, and a player who had not been in the majors in a decade drove a two-run double.

The Phillies have lost six straight games and 15 of their last 21. They scored just four runs in the first two games against last-place Miami, who has a better record this month than the free-falling Phillies. The Phillies are just two games above .500 and are closer to fourth place in the National League East than they are to first.

They began the season with an emphatic sweep of Atlanta, but have a losing record ever since. The Phillies spent $475 million this offseason and infused their roster with five All-Stars. They began the season with lofty aspirations, but those seem dimmer with each loss, just 12 weeks into the season.

“We’re not playing good baseball. Period,” Kapler said. “There’s not a single part of our game that is where it needs to be. It’s unacceptable. And we’re going to make it better.”

The team’s play this month feels similar to the way they finished last season when they nose-dived out of a playoff race in September. Kapler said this is a “completely different team” and an “entirely different group of men.” The roster may have been overhauled, but the losses are coming at the same pace.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you it doesn’t stink. Of course, it does,” Rhys Hoskins said. “We’ve had some clunkers. We’ve had some close ones. But I think, throughout the course of a season, every team usually goes through this at some point. This is obviously lasting a little longer than we would hope, but every team goes through this. Thank God, it’s now and not later. Even with the losing, there’s always stuff we can learn, and that’s all we can try to do and keep moving forward.”

Hoskins homered in the third inning, one batter after Bryce Harper lined a homer to right field. A night earlier, the Phillies had to steal home to score their only run. The inning — the two sluggers hitting back-to-back homers — felt like the way the Phillies were built to score runs.

The Phillies entered Saturday with the fifth-worst slugging percentage in the NL and the fourth fewest home runs. Finally, the offense was showing its might. But it did not last. They had just one more extra-base hit and scored once more. They could have had another extra-base hit in the eighth when Cesar Hernandez dropped a fly ball into left field. But he did not hustle from home plate and instead had to settle for a single.

“It’s not where you want to be as a team, as a club,” Harper said. “[Hitting coach John Mallee] does a great job of getting us prepared every single day. we just have to go out there and get it done. Have we done that? We haven’t, especially with guys on base. Me personally, as well. We have to get better. We have to positive each day coming in here, no matter what, and just play our game.”

Starter Vince Velasquez pitched five strong innings and allowed just one run. But he had spent the last four weeks in the bullpen and was lifted after 57 pitches. The Phillies turned the lead over to their bullpen, a unit that has a 7.09 ERA in June. The Marlins jumped on Adam Morgan and Edubray Ramos for three runs in the seventh. J.D. Hammer allowed another in the eighth. The big blow came from Marlins catcher Wilkin Castillo, who doubled in two runs off Ramos in his first major-league game since 2009.

Kapler, by then, had long been exiled from the dugout. He was ejected by home-plate umpire Chris Guccione after Kapler argued emphatically that Scott Kingery had not swung at a pitch that hit his hand and was ruled strike three. The crowd roared as Kapler pointed his finger at Guccione and crew chief Mike Everitt.

They cheered even more when Kapler kicked the dirt with his right leg, coating the umpires’ gray pant legs with dust. Kapler said he “absolutely” did not mean to do that. But the fans enjoyed it.

He returned to the dugout to a standing ovation. Five innings later, Kapler could hear from underneath the stands as the fans booed his team off the field after yet another loss. An ejection was not enough to stop the swoon.

“Look, I think we’re as prepared as we can be. I think at some point it falls on us,” Hoskins said. “Obviously, the coaching staff is usually the first to get fingers pointed at, but, again, we’re as prepared as we can be. I wish I had more. We haven’t gotten many timely hits. That stands out. When that happens game after game after game, it just stings a little more.”