Phillies melt down in eighth inning and fall short in 8-7 loss to Mets

Zach Eflin was watching Sunday night from the clubhouse when the first-base umpire circled his finger in the air, ruling that Rhys Hoskins’ fly ball had cleared the fence for a game-tying homer.

The Phillies had allowed six runs in the eighth inning of an 8-7 loss to the Mets and were plagued by their poor defense and struggling relievers. But now the game was tied on a three-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Or at least everyone -- from the fans who rocked South Philadelphia to the engineer who flickered the stadium lights and to the pitchers who watched on the clubhouse TV -- thought it was.

“We freaked out. We were screaming. We were hollering. We were going crazy in there, probably as much as the guys in the dugout were,” Eflin said. “It’s just so crazy to know that baseball comes down to inches so many times.”

Hoskins’ homer fell just inches short of absolving the Phillies -- and himself -- of their defensive shortcomings. A replay review ruled that his fly ball to right-field hit the railing above the fence and not the seats. Eflin saw the replay and said he’s played in Philly long enough to know it would be a ground-rule double.

The umpires agreed. Hoskins returned to second base with the Phillies trailing by a run and down to their last out. Bryce Harper struck out and the Mets celebrated a series win just minutes after the Phillies celebrated what they thought was a tying homer.

“That’s what the replay system is there for,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I mean, obviously it’s frustrating it goes against us, but I’m assuming that they were right. I’m making the assumption. I’ve said all along, the whole idea of replay is to get calls right. It’s frustrating because we thought we tied it up.”

The Phillies scored three times in the ninth, but they needed to score four to overcome their meltdown eighth-inning. The Mets scored six times and the most crushing run was the second one of the inning. The Mets tied the game when Jonathan Villar scored from first base on a ball hit to Hoskins at first.

The sharply-hit grounder eluded the diving Hoskins and rolled into shallow right field. When Hoskins retrieved it, Villar was already at third base. Hoskins softly tossed the ball to second baseman Nick Maton and Villar sprinted home to score with ease.

“It’s a mental error that can’t happen at any point in the game. Certainly not late in the game,” Hoskins said. “I just put my head down. We know that Villar is an aggressive base runner and you can’t take our eye off him and I did. I have to run the ball back into the infield.”

Hoskins said he saw Villar reach third base, but thought he stopped running. Villar didn’t. It was a mistake, Girardi said, that the team could not afford.

“Everyone has to be yelling, but you have to understand when that happens, you have to run the ball into the infield. That’s the bottom line,” Girardi said. “You can talk about a lot of different people that can communicate there, but you have to understand that you have to run the ball into the infield.”

The loss dropped the Phillies to two games below .500 for the first time this season. They have lost four of the last six games and have won just one of their last seven series.

» READ MORE: Phillies reliever José Alvarado appeals three-game suspension for ‘inciting a benches-clearing incident’

Harper and J.T. Realmuto returned to the lineup on Sunday night after missing the first two games of the series, but that was not enough to overcome the team’s fielding.

Left fielder Andrew McCutchen, who misplayed a line drive on Saturday night, could not chase down a fly ball from Dominic Smith in the second that fell for a double. Harper fumbled a ball in right field in the third before his throw to home was late, and the next batter reached on an error at third by Alec Bohm.

The Phillies entered Sunday with the third-lowest defensive runs saved in the National League. Their defensive woes did not simply appear on Sunday night.

“We’re making way too many mistakes defensively,” Girardi said. “We need to clean it up. We talk about it all the time and we work on it, but we need to clean it up. We’re giving them way too many extra outs and you always got to be on your toes in this game and you’ve got to understand who runners are and you have to think ahead, you know? It’s unfortunate.”

Even Eflin, who allowed two runs and struck out seven in six innings, made an error. His second run allowed scored after he fielded a one-out grounder by James McCann and fired a throw to second to try for a double play. Eflin’s throw was wide and Smith scored as the pitcher’s decision to throw to second instead of home proved costly.

“It’s such a tough play because I take so much pride in being a good defensive pitcher and fielding my position,” Eflin said. “It was such a reaction-based grounder. I never even really saw the ball. I just threw the glove up and thought I had it. I knew it was McCann that hit it, so I thought if I got rid of the ball quickly we’d still have a chance at the double play. It came to my mind first before getting the sure out or seeing where Dom was at third. That’s really not going to sit well with me.”

Eflin returned to the clubhouse by the time the game unraveled in the eighth inning. Two innings earlier, Didi Gregorius hit a three-run homer to give the Phillies a two-run lead. But it was wasted.

Brandon Kintzler allowed a leadoff homer to Kevin Pillar before Villar singled. Hoskins’ mental-lapse tied the game and Girardi swapped Kintzler for Jose Alvarado, who appealed a suspension earlier in the day for inciting a benches-clearing incident on Friday night.

Alvarado, seeming to struggle with his command, allowed a single to Jeff McNeil, walked Francisco Lindor to load the bases, and walked Michael Conforto to bring in the go-ahead run. He threw just 11 pitches before Girardi removed him for David Hale.

“He’s worked a lot. It could’ve been because it’s the fourth time since he’s been back that got to him,” Girardi said of Alvarado, who was on the COVID-19 injured list for a week. “It could’ve been the emotions of the situation because he got so emotional the other day. We haven’t seen him throw like that since he’s been here, really. It’s hard to say. It could be a mixture of both, too.”

» READ MORE: How Phillies’ Sam Coonrod got his command under control by playing catch with fellow reliever Brandon Kintzler

Hale, the team’s long reliever, was summoned with the bases loaded in a one-run game and promptly allowed a three-run double to Pete Alonso. The Phillies were missing key relievers Hector Neris, Sam Coonrod, and Connor Brogdon, so Girardi tried to mix-and-match his way through the late innings. Bullpen roulette is always a challenge, but it becomes even tougher when your defense falters.

“I’m never going to give up on it,” Girardi said about improving the team’s defense. “That’s what we do. That’s our job, so I’m never going to give up on it.”