Reeling Phillies lose to Giants on walk-off homer, swept in San Francisco originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
SAN FRANCISCO — The Phillies ended a miserable trip to Arizona and San Francisco with a 5-3 loss to the Giants on Sunday afternoon.
The Phillies were down three runs in the top of the eighth when JT Realmuto tied the game with a three-run homer to left field. The Phils then survived an outfield misplay by emergency right fielder Nick Maton in the bottom of the eighth but ended up losing in the bottom of the ninth when Wilmer Flores hit a walk-off two-run homer against David Robertson.
Robertson was clutch in striking out Evan Longoria to get out of a bases-loaded jam and preserve the tie in the eighth. He threw 26 pitches in the inning and was asked to go back out for the ninth. He walked the leadoff man then struck out two before Flores’ two-out walk-off.
The Giants swept the three-game series from the reeling Phillies. Gabe Kapler’s club had lost seven straight and 11 of 13 coming in.
The Phillies have lost six of their last seven. They went 1-5 on the road trip and slipped to third in the NL wild-card standings. They left leading Milwaukee, the last team out, by four games and headed home leading the Brewers by 2½. The Phils do hold a tiebreaker against that club.
Sunday’s loss dropped the Phillies to 0-3 in September. They have not had a winning September since 2017.
Starting pitching was an issue for the Phillies throughout the trip. Ranger Suarez’ recent problems in the middle innings surfaced again. He cruised through three innings then gave up three runs in the fourth. He walked two in the inning and allowed three RBI singles.
The Phils did nothing against San Francisco starter Carlos Rodon. The power lefty struck out 10 in six shutout innings. The Phils shed no tears when he left after 106 pitches. Realmuto’s game-tying homer in the eighth came against right-hander John Brebbia.