Phillies Star Bryce Harper Sounds Alarm After Latest Loss

Bryce Harper did not sugarcoat it after the Philadelphia Phillies were blown out 12-2 by the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.

“We got to play better baseball,” Harper said after the game. “If we don’t, we’re not going to be in.”

The loss dropped the Phillies to 82-67 and left them six games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East with little more than two weeks left in the regular season.

Harper’s solo homer in the first inning off Tyler Mahle gave Philadelphia a brief 1-0 lead. It was his 28th home run of the year and the 391st of his career, including his 48th against Atlanta.

That was as good as it got. The Braves sent 12 men to the plate in an eight-run fourth inning and never looked back.

A throwing error by Bryson Stott on what should have been the final out of the inning opened the floodgates. Grant Holman, making his first major league appearance of the season, then allowed five more runs.

Harper himself had a chance to build on the early lead. In his second at-bat against Mahle, with runners at the corners, he struck out on three splitters and left them stranded.

The Phillies did not score again until the eighth, when Justin Crawford hit a solo homer to make it 9-2. Atlanta tacked on three more in the bottom half.

Philadelphia has now lost seven of its last 10 games. What looked like a push for the division title a week and a half ago has turned into a scramble to hold a wild-card spot.

The Phillies still sit in a decent position for October. They remain two games ahead of the San Diego Padres and three ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and they own the head-to-head tiebreaker over San Diego.

Harper said he is not watching the scoreboard.

“Got to play better baseball and not worry about the Cubs, not worry about the Diamondbacks, not worry about San Diego. We got to take care of business as a team. If we don’t, then we’re not going to be there.”

He put the burden on the whole roster, including himself.

“As a team, we got to look in the mirror, understand what we got to do on a nightly basis,” Harper said. “Guys got to be able to throw big innings for us, do their job, and get hits when they need to, and I’m the same way.”

FanGraphs still gave the Phillies a 94.2 percent chance of reaching the postseason after the loss. Their odds of winning the NL East, though, are essentially gone.

Harper is hitting .271 with 28 home runs and 83 RBIs in 149 games this season. The numbers are solid, but the last 10 games have been a grind for the entire lineup and bullpen.

Atlanta improved to 88-61 and 9-3 against the Phillies this year. The Braves’ magic number to clinch the division is seven.

Philadelphia used an opener Saturday after Jesús Luzardo was scratched with left shoulder stiffness. The bullpen could not keep the game close once the fourth inning started.

The Phillies will try to avoid a series sweep Sunday. Even a modest finish the rest of the way should be enough to lock up a wild-card berth. Then the focus can shift to seeding.

For now, Harper’s message was simple: stop looking around and start playing better.