Phillies in a 2-for-39 funk with runners in scoring position. Kevin Long says it’s not time to panic.

The Phillies have a .642 OPS with runners in scoring position this season. That ranks 28th in baseball. Their slugging percentage in that scenario is .324, which ranks 30th. Those figures change drastically when the bases are empty. With no runners on, their slugging percentage is .444 (which ranks fourth) and their OPS is .758 (which ranks sixth).

It’s not what you want to see from a lineup that was built to slug. The most recent three losses in San Francisco put those problems on full display. After their first two games in Colorado, in which the Phillies hit 5-for-13 with runners on second and third, they went 2-for-39 over their next four games. But hitting coach Kevin Long says that is too small of a sample size to glean anything from.

“I don’t really get caught up with runners in scoring position because I’ve been doing this for so long and have seen the ebbs and flows of how the season goes,” he said. “Early on [in the season], we were really good. You can look at the last four games and we were awful. But the two games before that, we went 5-for-13.

“And then we go on a streak where we were 0-for-14 and then we go 0-for-8 and then we go 1-for-6. How many of those at-bats were good? Probably a third of them. So you can look at it so many different ways. And really it boils down to a lot of luck, a lot of fortune, and I would rather have guys on base get hits and walks and have a lot of traffic than to not have guys on base.”

Long is encouraged by two trends. First, the Phillies are hitting the ball harder of late. They hit 66 balls with a velocity of 95 mph or more over their last six games, according to Baseball Savant. Their opponents hit 47 over that span.

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Second, the Phillies are now walking more. From May 8-18, they posted a 10.7% walk rate. From the beginning of the season (March 30) up to then, they were walking at a rate of 6.9%.

Long said that increasing his team’s walks has been a point of emphasis.

“We’ve talked about it,” he said. “We’re trying to get more guys on, we’re trying to create more traffic. I feel like the guys, [when we] brought it to their attention, I think we were second to last in walks in baseball. ... I think they’ve responded well. I don’t know where we are, but it’s definitely gone up.”

Despite the positive trends, Long concedes that the slugging percentage with runners in scoring position needs to go up — and he thinks it will. He estimates that the Phillies will be somewhere in the middle of the pack — ranking around 15th with runners in scoring position — by the end of the season.

“We’re too good,” he said. “This team is too good. The weather is going to change. Like I said, I’m not caught up in it. It doesn’t bother me at all. Because I know what my troops are and who they are and I trust them. I know how they’re working. And I know how good they are.

“That’s it, more than anything else. For me to get wrapped up in it — I wouldn’t be doing my job the way I need to do it. Because I need to trust my guys. And I do. And I know that they’re better than what they are with runners in scoring position, and that number will change. I’m quite certain of that.”

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Manager Rob Thomson said that reliever José Alvarado (left elbow inflammation) is throwing out to 75 feet and is feeling well. He said that Alvarado will probably stay at 75 feet for a day or two, then increase the intensity and the volume of his throws. It is likely that he will go on a rehab assignment before returning to the big league club.

Thomson said that Bryce Harper threw out to 75 feet on Friday. He is still taking ground balls at first base and has a “long way to go” before returning to the field after offseason elbow surgery. When he does return, Thomson said he’d rather Harper play right field, because it’s his natural position.