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Phillies ticked at pitches at Rhys Hoskins’ head | Extra Innings

“A lot of people aren’t happy about it,” pitcher Zach Eflin said.

Mets reliever Jacob Rhame threw two pitches toward Rhys Hoskins' head Tuesday night but denied any intent.
Mets reliever Jacob Rhame threw two pitches toward Rhys Hoskins' head Tuesday night but denied any intent.Read moreAP

The offense was marked absent again, the defense was atrocious, and the pitching was pedestrian. It all added up to a 9-0 loss Tuesday night as the Phillies surrendered first place to the New York Mets after their fifth loss in six games on a seven-game road trip that will conclude Wednesday night at Citi Field.

“Very frustrating,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Again, we didn’t come out and play good baseball. If we want to meet the expectations that we all have for this team, we have to play better baseball than that.”

No one would argue the point. The Phillies have been outscored by 14-1 in the first two games against the Mets and 33-15 so far on the road trip. They had just one at-bat with runners in scoring position Wednesday and are hitting .200 (8-for-40) on the road trip in those situations.

The rotation ERA is 4.59 and the bullpen ERA is 5.59 on the road trip. The Phillies have also made eight errors over that stretch, including five in the last two games.

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— Bob Brookover (extrainnings@philly.com)

Phillies ticked at ninth-inning pitches at Rhys Hoskins’ head

Mets reliever Jacob Rhame might have awakened a slumping Phillies offense in the ninth inning Tuesday night when he threw two balls in the direction of Rhys Hoskins’ head. The Phillies figured it was retaliation for Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, two of the Mets’ best hitters, being plunked Monday night, but they were still plenty steamed that Rhame’s offerings came so close to Hoskins’ noggin.

“It sure looked like it was [intentional] to me,” Kapler said. “It damn sure looked like it.”

Hoskins and Bryce Harper agreed that it was intentional even though Rhame denied any such intent after the game.

“He didn’t miss up and in or out and up to a lefty the rest of the inning, so I’ll let you decide," Hoskins said. “But I understand baseball. They got hit a couple of times yesterday.”

“I don’t get it," Harper said. "I understand that two of their guys got hit yesterday, but I mean, if it’s baseball and you’re going to drill somebody, at least hit him in the [butt]. Not in the head. You throw 98. It’s scary now. You could kill somebody, lose your eyesight. That’s bigger than the game.”

Rhame’s potential purpose pitches were the talk of the Phillies clubhouse after the game.

“A lot of people aren’t happy about it,” pitcher Zach Eflin said after allowing four runs in four innings, including a two-run home run and RBI double to opposing pitcher Zack Wheeler.

Eflin, after pitching brilliantly in his first two starts, is 0-3 with a 7.07 ERA in his last three outings.

The Phillies, of course, could use a spark after losing five of their first six games on this road trip and scoring three runs or fewer in all five of the losses.

“We haven’t played good baseball these last couple of days,” Hoskins said. “It’s a big game [tonight]. We’ll be excited to go back home, but we’ve got to take care of business against these guys first.”

The rundown

It did not seem possible that the Phillies (12-11) could play worse than they had played in Monday night’s loss to the Mets, but they definitely looked worse in Tuesday night’s 9-0 loss to the Mets. A lot of the credit, however, should go to Mets starter Zack Wheeler, who was dominating on the mound and at the plate as New York (13-10) took over first place in the National League East.

It’s never good for the manager when one of your players accuses the team of being flat and not ready to play, which is what pitcher Jake Arrieta did after Monday night’s listless 5-1 loss to the Mets. Gabe Kapler, however, agreed with Arrieta’s assessment just as Bryce Harper agreed that he cannot get ejected from a one-run game in the fourth inning as he did Monday night. Our Scott Lauber wrote about it all and then the Phillies went out and played worse in their 9-0 loss Tuesday night.

Former National League MVP and Mets antagonist Jimmy Rollins was in the broadcast booth for the first two games of the Phillies’ series at Citi Field. He was an entertaining listen with partners John Kruk and Tom McCarthy, but he did have a minor slip as our Rob Tornoe points out in this story.

Important dates

Tonight: Vince Velasquez tries to salvage final game of Mets series for Phillies, 7:10 p.m.

Tomorrow: Aaron Nola opens homestand against Miami’s Caleb Smith, 7:05 p.m.

Friday: Jerad Eickhoff faces Miami’s Jose Urena, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday: Jake Arrieta goes after sixth straight quality start, 6:05 p.m.

Sunday: Happy birthday, Phillie Phanatic, 1:05 p.m.

Stat of the day

Cesar Hernandez allowed the New York Mets to score an unearned run in the second inning Tuesday night when a routine Brandon Nimmo grounder rolled between the second baseman’s legs. It was Hernandez’s fourth error of the season, the most by any second baseman in the National League.

Hernandez did not make his fourth error until the 49th game of the 2018 and 2017 seasons and went 63 games before he made his fourth error in 2016.

From the mailbag

Send questions by email or on Twitter @brookob.

Question: Just want to know what you think as a sports writer when it comes to what players say outside vs. keeping it in the locker room. I thought, for lack of a better word, “refreshing” to hear Arrieta’s comments on the way the Phillies played and their behavior [Monday] night against the Mets.

From a fan’s viewpoint, I was feeling exactly the same way. Harper has to stay on the field and not go “0 to 100” over the calls and the Phillies were “flat” [Monday] night to say the least.

I would bet that as a sports writer it is what you want to hear and write about, but are there times it needs to stay exclusively in the locker room? Just curious.

Bernie H., via email

Answer: Thanks for the question, Bernie, and for reading Extra Innings. As sports writers, we always appreciate the honesty of professional athletes and I thought that Arrieta was absolutely right to call out Harper for being ejected from Monday night’s game. It just cannot happen because he’s too valuable to the lineup. It was good to hear that Harper agreed with Arrieta.

As for the team looking flat, it’s always hard to judge such a thing in baseball. A team always looks flat when it is not hitting. Sometimes it happens because a team is having lousy at-bats, and sometimes it’s because the opposing pitcher is really good. I thought that was the case Tuesday night against New York’s Zack Wheeler.

Regardless, the Phillies need to get their offense going soon.

As for the final part of your question, I would say, yes, sometimes things should stay in the clubhouse, but when they don’t, you always want to be the reporter who hears about a player’s beef with his team or teammates. That’s the competitive nature of our business.