Daily News | Without Bryce Harper, Phillies bats go quiet in 7-0 loss to Rangers
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Rangers’ first at-bat with runners in scoring position didn’t come until the sixth inning. Marcus Semien hit a one-out double off Kyle Gibson, and Corey Seager stepped up to the plate and drove him in with a single on the first pitch he saw, a cutter at the top of the zone. Semien scored to extend Texas’ lead to three runs.
They had another chance in the fifth, when Yairo Muñoz singled and Hoskins walked to put runners on first and second with two outs. But Castellanos grounded out again, and another opportunity was wasted. “[Martín] Pérez knows how to minimize damage,” interim manager Rob Thomson said of the Rangers’ left-handed starter who allowed six hits and three walks in six innings. “That’s why he was pitcher of the month in the American League. We got baserunners, we just couldn’t get them in. And that happens. I just tell the guys, just keep getting baserunners. Eventually, it’s going to happen. We’re going to score.
An offense this potent should be able to capitalize on these opportunities with or without Harper. But his absence over the past three games has been notable. In Washington, the Phillies went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on Sunday and 2-for-8 on Saturday. Harper is scheduled to return Wednesday, but regardless, they’re going to have figure this out. With the Padres, Braves and Cardinals on deck, it doesn’t get easier from here.
It was a solid performance — with a couple of mistake pitches that cost him — but it was nowhere near as solid as his previous outing against the Marlins. In that outing, Gibson went eight innings, helping Thomson preserve a fatigued bullpen, and allowed only seven hits and one earned run with no walks.It’s getting hard — maybe impossible — to trust reliever Jeurys Familia. Two outings ago, on June 14 against the Marlins, he gave up three earned runs over one-third of an inning.