Good morning.

Did you stay up until 1:33 a.m. to catch all of the hot action between the Phillies and Dodgers last night?

No?

Well, if you didn’t, here’s what you missed:

  • Bryce Harper was injured.
  • Jean Segura was injured.
  • With the Phillies down a run in the eighth inning and two men aboard, Andrew McCutchen and Alec Bohm whiffed on and fouled off roughly a half dozen mistakes from Dodgers reliever Phil Bickford before Luke Williams grounded out to end their true last gasp.

 

There’s probably some pun to be made here about a nightmare or late night horror story, but we’ll skip the cute wordplay and get to the point.

The Phillies lost in L.A. for the second time in two nights. They’re now back below .500 and wake up this morning with an astonishingly poor 11-21 road record.

Following their latest loss, they are currently on pace to win 28 road games this season. In 2017, a 66-96 train wreck Phillies squad won 27 road games. Editorialize that reality however you would like.

That’s pretty much the short of it, though it was an entertaining game played in front of 52,078 fans on the night Dodger Stadium reopened to full capacity.

The electricity reached its peak when Dodgers star Mookie Betts had his first big moment in front of a full home crowd by breaking a 3-3 tie in the seventh:

If you need a little sunshine following a game in which Phillies hitters went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position while stranding nine runners — a night after going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranding 10 runners — well, it’s exactly that. The Phillies have been in position to win both games against the defending World Series champs, a team that is on pace to win 99 games.

The problem, of course, is that the Phillies didn’t win the first two games of this series against a banged up team. Making matters worse, they, too, are now banged up.

Harper left the game with lower back tightness after striking out in the fourth inning. He was in visible discomfort after swinging through this fastball on a 1-1 pitch:

While Phillies manager Joe Girardi said following the game that Harper is day-to-day (don’t expect to see him tonight) and doesn’t appear headed for the injured list, this is not the first time the right fielder has had lower back troubles.

He played with lower back discomfort last season. That discomfort led to him adjusting his throwing mechanics last winter and utilizing a different offseason training program. The issues then carried over into this season, causing him to miss a game back in April.

Even if Harper is available for the San Francisco series, there’s probably some concern by all parties over the recurring nature of the injury.

Meanwhile, the short-term prognosis given by Girardi on Segura, who left the game with an injured left groin after hustling down the line in the ninth, was less encouraging.

“I’m not so confident that’s day-to-day,” Girardi said of Segura, who’s hitting .332 with an .845 OPS this season.

Pure speculation on my end, but it sure sounded like an IL stint is in play.

“Jean is tough kid. He doesn’t come out too often,” Girardi noted with purpose.

Going Streaking

With two more hits on Tuesday night, Alec Bohm now has a seven-game hitting streak.

After closing May on a 1-for-23 stretch, he’s 14-for-39 in June, good for a .359 average. However, Bohm has not recorded an extra-base hit since May 18, extending his streak without one to 74 at-bats (80 plate appearances).

Speaking of streaks without, Rhys Hoskins has now gone 33 consecutive at-bats without a hit. After carrying a slumping Phillies offense for much of May, he’s hitting just .093 with a .397 OPS this month.