Phillies let one get away as David Robertson blows save in 6-5 loss to Marlins

Mayday. Mayday.

Too soon? Probably. But memories of all those May nights on Joe Girardi’s watch, when the bullpen and defense cost the Phillies game after game, sure did come flooding back Thursday night with a ninth-inning stubbed toe in a 6-5 loss to the Miami Marlins.

Handed a one-run lead, de facto closer David Robertson, aided by an error from first baseman Rhys Hoskins, endured his second consecutive rough outing in a fall-from-ahead loss before only 19,073 at Citizens Bank Park.

And while it’s premature to send out a distress signal — even after the Milwaukee Brewers swept a doubleheader to shave the Phillies’ lead for the final National League playoff spot to 2½ games — it may prompt the return of Seranthony Domínguez after only one minor league appearance.

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“Well, we’re going to talk to him [Friday] and find out where exactly he is and how he feels and we’ll make a determination,” interim manager Rob Thomson said. “But it sounded like it was really good.”

A few hours before Robertson gave away what would have been another uplifting comeback against NL Cy Young Award favorite Sandy Alcantara, Domínguez overcame back-to-back walks in a scoreless inning for triple-A Lehigh Valley. Thomson said reports indicated Domínguez was throwing “98 to 100″ mph.

Robertson, meanwhile, witnessed another dip in his velocity. His cutter averaged 91.8 mph, down from his 93.2 mph season average. Thomson suspected Robertson “is a little bit tired,” which would be unsurprising. Not only is the 37-year-old is in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, but the Phillies have leaned on him, asking him to throw a season-high 41 pitches last Sunday in San Francisco.

“I feel good,” Robertson said. “My velo might be down a tick. I’m not looking up at the board at it. It feels good coming out of my hand. I feel like it was just one of those days when I just didn’t get the job done. I just didn’t make enough good pitches.”

Robertson gave up a leadoff double to Garrett Cooper, who scored the tying run when Joey Wendle’s grounder scooted underneath Hoskins’ glove.

“I was just trying to go get a short hop and didn’t get it, obviously,” Hoskins said. “Looking back on it, just where I was positioned on the field, I thought that was my best chance to get a good hop.”

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Robertson followed by walking Avisail Garcia on a full-count pitch that missed up high and allowing a go-ahead single through the right side by Brian Anderson.

The Phillies were unable to rally in the bottom of the ninth, as the Marlins averted a three-game sweep. The Phillies lost for only the 10th time in 42 games against Miami, Washington, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh — the league’s four worst teams. Washington comes to town for three games beginning Friday night.

Defensive miscues and late-inning collapses were common for the Phillies early in the season and largely responsible for Girardi’s firing on June 3. Under Thomson, the defense has been cleaner, the bullpen a strength.

But with Domínguez out since the middle of August with triceps tendinitis and Corey Knebel lost for the season to a shoulder injury, the reliever ranks are getting thin. It’s one of the reasons the Phillies are considering prospect Griff McGarry in a relief role.

“Every loss is frustrating regardless of the time of year,” Hoskins said. “We’re trying to win as many baseball games as we can, but we’ll take the series win and move on to the weekend.”

The Phillies thought they had beaten Alcantara for the third time in as many months and the fourth time this season. They rallied in the fifth inning after Marlins center fielder JJ Bleday dropped a routine fly ball that would’ve been the third out and laid out for a ball that turned into a go-ahead two-run triple for Alec Bohm.

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Alcantara has made five starts against the Phillies this season and allowed 13 earned runs in 35⅔ innings for a 3.28 ERA. Overall, he has a 2.43 ERA.

“I don’t make lists, but if you’re making a list of the best pitchers in the game, you’re talking about him,” Bohm said. “You get to him, you get a lead, and you want to close it out. But it didn’t happen, and we move on to the next one.”

The Phillies likely will face Alcantara once more next week in Miami.

Six nights after one of the shortest starts of his career (1⅔ innings in San Francisco), Kyle Gibson put the Phillies in a 3-0 hole in the third inning and gave up the go-ahead run in the fifth after they rallied to tie the game against Alcantara.

The Marlins scored a total of 16 runs in their previous 10 games. But they made plenty of hard contact against Gibson. In the three-run third inning, Lewin Díaz (homer), Jon Berti (single), and Garrett Cooper (double) each recorded exit velocities of more than 100 mph.

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“I kind of lost feel for my cutter,” Gibson said. “All three of those balls that they hit were on cutters.”

After a nine-start run in which he posted a 2.80 ERA and the Phillies went 5-2, Gibson has allowed 11 runs in 6⅔ innings over his last two starts.

After the smashing two-game minor league assignment that preceded his return from a two-month absence because of a broken left thumb, Bryce Harper warned that he didn’t see many breaking pitches in triple A and still felt like he needed to regain his rhythm at the plate.

Harper struck out three times against Alcantara, twice on changeups, and has fanned in 10 of his last 16 plate appearances overall. He’s 11-for-42 with eight walks since his return but has only three extra-base hits and no home runs.