Baseball is a complicated game, but it can often be a simple one.

You can’t win if you can’t score — and you won’t win often if you only score once.

A listless Phillies lineup averaging just 2.64 runs over its last 11 games without Rhys Hoskins starting managed just a single run en route to a 3-1 loss. An overmatched offense couldn’t overcome a rough eighth inning by reliever Archie Bradley that was amplified by an untimely misplay from left fielder Odúbel Herrera.

The loss, one that wasted a brilliant start by Ranger Suárez, highlighted a growingly pessimistic outlook for a Phillies team that began the month with so much promise.

Feels like forever ago, doesn’t it?


Trailing the Braves by 4.5 games with 37 left to play, the Phillies’ margin for error is rapidly shrinking. When they get an effort like the one they got from Aaron Nola on Saturday night, like they got from Suárez in this one, they simply cannot waste it.

Baseball fans tend to look ahead and look around this time of year. How many does a team have to win down the stretch to get in? What’s happening on the out-of-town scoreboard?

Such questions are understandable, even if the answers aren’t pretty. Hope, however faint or fleeting it may be, keeps fans hanging on. But it’s hard not to wonder if the Phillies’ playoff window has already shut.

Maybe it has. Mathematically, it hasn’t. But what I unequivocally know is this team has utterly exhausted its ability to lose games like the one they lost to the Rays on Tuesday night.

Ranger Suárez Dominates Potent Rays Lineup

In his fifth start since joining the rotation earlier this month, Suárez took a huge step forward. Not only did the left-hander surpass the fifth inning for the first time, he did so while holding baseball’s second best scoring offense in check — something Bradley could not do.

Just six days after needing 86 pitches to record 14 outs while allowing 13 baserunners in a struggle against Arizona, Suárez completed a season-best 6 2/3 innings on 99 pitches (62 strikes). He limited a Rays offense that began the night averaging an MLB-best 5.7 runs per game on the road this season to just six hits and one run.

Suárez’s changeup, which opponents entered the night hitting just .183 against this season, was again effective. He utilized it 30 times, generating a total of seven whiffs on 15 total Tampa Bay swings.

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In fact, just one of the six hits he allowed came on the changeup, while five of his career-high seven strikeouts were finished with it.

Since joining the rotation, Suárez has an impressive 2.11 ERA over five starts, allowing just five earned runs over 21 1/3 innings.

A Big Hit for Brad Miller

It has been a rough month for Brad Miller, who has seen increased playing time with Hoskins battling a groin injury. In 17 August games entering Tuesday night, Miller was just 7-for-47 (.149 BA), but he came up big in the fourth inning with his team trailing by a run.

Miller followed a two-out single by Didi Gregorius with an RBI double into the right field corner to tie the game.

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It was a welcomed moment for Miller, who was hitting just .131 with two outs and only .212 with runners in scoring position this season.

Signs of Life from Didi Gregorius

Earlier Tuesday, the Phillies activated infielder Freddy Galvis from the injured list.

With Alec Bohm now at Lehigh Valley and both Ronald Torreyes and Gregorius recently scuffling at the plate, Galvis figures to receive substantial playing time down the stretch.

Where that will happen remains to be seen.

Gregorius entered the night hitting just .152 over his last 10 games, generating a total of 3 RBIs and two extra-base hits in 39 plate appearances. And before I get accused of dialing in on a small sample size to exaggerate a point, Gregorius is hitting just .191 with a .615 OPS since the All-Star break.

But he showed some signs of life in this one.

In the fourth inning, he started what was at the time a momentum-turning double play that kept the early deficit for a struggling offense at just one run.

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In the bottom of the frame, he started the aforementioned two-out rally that was capped by Miller’s double. Notably, he hit the ball hard in each of his first three plate appearances, picking up a pair of hits en route to his first multi-hit game since Aug. 13.