Phillies’ offense goes quiet again in doubleheader sweep by Nationals

WASHINGTON — By day, they forced the issue on the bases and at the plate in a way that only teams with a magically disappearing offense tend to do.

By night, they faced Max Scherzer.

How do you think the Phillies fared on Wednesday?

Eighteen innings in two games spread out over roughly 9½ hours, and the Phillies came away with, well, nothing. They lost, 6-2, in the matinee, done in by Bryce Harper’s overaggressive baserunning and a couple of late home runs against a rookie lefty/novice reliever who wasn’t up to the moment, then fell, 2-0, in the nightcap against the Nationals’ ace, broken nose and all.

Make it seven losses in nine games — and 12 in the last 18 games — for the Phillies, who slid to four games off the pace in the National League East. They’re as close in the standings to the third-place Nationals as they are to the red-hot, division-leading Atlanta Braves. At 39-34, they are one game worse than they were through 73 games last season.

“It’s a low point for us, but they happen over the course of seven months,” said Jake Arrieta, who received even less support in the second game than Zach Eflin did in the first. “We’ve played really well, we’ve played poorly. This is just one of those spots we need to try to get out of as quick as possible. We’re only a series away, or a four- or five-game stretch away, from being back on track.”

But while the pitching staff’s depth and overall talent is being tested to limits that threaten to undermine the season — and reliever Pat Neshek could be headed back to the injured list after straining his left hamstring in his first game back — it is the once-mighty offense that has vanished at the worst possible time.

The Phillies went 10-for-62 with three extra-base hits in the two games against high-priced Nationals aces Scherzer and Patrick Corbin, the continuation of an 18-game stretch in which they are batting .222 (130-for-586) and averaging 3.9 runs per game.

It didn’t help that Jean Segura didn’t run hard on a flare single against Scherzer to lead off the second game. Last month, Segura’s lack of hustle on a pop fly precipitated the rundown in which Andrew McCutchen suffered a season-ending knee injury.

“I talked to him. He knows he has to run hard out of the box,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He knows he should be on second base. It’s just unacceptable, simple as that.”

Even if he had run hard, it’s debatable that Segura would have scored, considering the way Scherzer retired the next three batters (fly ball to left field, grounder to first base, strikeout). But, at least he would have had more of a chance.

“It wasn’t a good effort,” Segura said. “I kept watching the ball instead of running. I’m frustrated. I’ve never been in a slump like this in three years. As a player, sometimes you get into difficult moments, and sometimes you do bad things on the baseball field that you don’t realize. I don’t have an excuse. That can’t happen, especially the type of player that I am. It’s a tough moment for me.”

Up and down the lineup, almost nobody is hitting. Segura is 2-for-20 on the road trip; Harper is 2-for-15; Rhys Hoskins, 3-for-15.

“I would expect us to be scoring more runs than we are,” Kapler said. “I would expect us to be slugging more than we are. I would expect us to be reaching base more frequently than we are. And ultimately, I think we are going to slug, we’re going to reach base, we’re going to score runs. This is not the story of the season yet. It’s the story of the last couple of weeks.”

But as much as they were unable to get anything going at the plate, the Phillies were in position to win both games in the late innings, a testament to how well their starters pitched.

Eflin kept the deficit to 3-1 going into the eighth, when Cole Irvin gave up back-to-back home runs to Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra to put the game away.

In the finale, Arrieta held the Nationals to two hits and one run on Dozier’s homer in the second inning.

But Scherzer was dominant. The Phillies tested his stamina by working deep counts, but with his right eye blackened from the ill-fated bunt that struck him in the face in batting practice one day earlier, he navigated through the big-name hitters in the top of the order and dominated the weaker ones at the bottom.

Scherzer had thrown 97 pitches when he came out for the seventh inning and gave up a leadoff double to Cesar Hernandez. But, he struck out Brad Miller and Andrew Knapp, then got to a 1-1 count against pinch-hitter J.T. Realmuto.

Pitch No. 116 was a 97-mph heater. Swinging strike.

And pitch No. 117: An 86-mph slider that dove downward and tailed away from Realmuto. Another swinging strike.

“Max is one of the best ever to toe the rubber,” Arrieta said. “[It looked like] normal Max to me, and he’s always good.”

Indeed, Scherzer has been doing this to the Phillies for more than a decade. In 19 career starts, he’s 10-3 with a 2.45 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 124 2/3 innings. Since joining the Nationals, he’s 9-2 with a 2.28 ERA in 17 starts against the Phillies. Washington has won 14 of those games.