August 12, 2026
Jeff Curry/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
The Phillies aren't hitting too much. They also aren't really pitching well.
The Phillies dropped another series — their sixth since the All-Star break.
With a rubber match Wednesday that boasted Cy Young hopeful Zack Wheeler on the mound for Philly, it felt like things could go the team's way. But after the bullpen and later the offense failed to show up in the first two games against the Cardinals in St. Louis (a win and a loss respectively), Wheeler followed suit, allowing an uncharacteristic four runs in his fifth inning of work, ultimately leading to a 5-1 defeat.
The sinking Phillies don't really look ready for the national stage in the MLB at Field of Dreams game in Iowa on Thursday. But they'll play the Twins there to start their next road series.
Here's a look at three winners, and more consequential, three losers from the 2-1 series loss in the midwest:
Cris Sánchez
The Phillies' ace showed up in St. Louis on Tuesday but the offense did not. Pulled after 89 pitches and six innings (more on that later), Sánchez struck out seven while walking none, with just four hits scattered during the dominant start. He was yanked from the game before the seventh, a curious decision for sure. But he seems to be back to his old shutout Sanchy self.
Andrew Painter
The fact that Painter isn't a problem right not sort of speaks volumes. While the Phillies' rookie righty won't be confused for an ace, he held his own Monday, going 5.1 innings with just two earn runs in his ledger on three walks and two hits. Prior to his one-month demotion, Painter had a 7.06 ERA, 1.662 WHIP and was essentially unplayable. In his three starts since returning on July 31, he has a 2.93 ERA and 0.978 WHIP.
Bryson Stott
We're sort of reaching for a third winner here, but Stott had a hit in each game of the series against the Cardinals — the only Phillies hitter to achieve that feat. In the middle game of the series, the former second – now third – baseman was lined up in the two-hole for just the third time this season and manufactured two hits there. Stott has rolled with the punches, moving to a new infield position and hitting in different parts of the lineup and he's proven to be impressively adaptable.
The bullpen, still
We wrote earlier this week about the Phillies' bullpen and how it's inevitably going to lose some games the rest of the summer — there's just no way around it. The Phils tried to find a workaround, bringing up one of their top relief pitching prospects Alex McFarlane before Tuesday's tilt and after six shutout innings from Sánchez, manager Don Mattingly went to the rookie in the seventh. He walked his first hitter and that runner would later score on a single. Tim Mayza allowed a run in the eighth and the Phils lost 2-0.
A day prior on Monday, the Phillies barely hung on to win 6-5 after a 6-2 lead crumbled thanks to three runs allowed from long relief man Alan Rangel. And in the finale, José Alvarado surrendered two insurance runs to the Cards to make a late comeback even less probable.
Their place in the standings
The longer the season drags on, the more apparent its becoming that the Phillies will be in a total dogfight to earn a postseason spot. Entering play Sunday, the Phillies were 6.5 games behind the Cubs for the best Wild Card berth and 8.5 games behind the Braves for the NL East. Even more troubling than that is their relative position for one of the two up for grabs Wild Card slots. Philadelphia is mired in a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks (they trail the season series 1-2 with three games to play for the tiebreaker) and Padres (they swept both series) from the NL West, and 2.5 games ahead of the Marlins and St. Louis. Dropping this series puts them behind the eight ball for a potential tiebreak with the Cardinals as well.
Hitting with RISP
It's hard to score runs when you can't hit with runners on base. In their Monday win they did just enough, going 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position, still stranding seven runners. On Tuesday it was brutal. In their shutout loss, they went 0-for-7, including a bases loaded, no out opportunity in the eighth (a continuation of something they did repeatedly at home against the Blue Jays last weekend). A simple sac fly would have worked. A base hit would probably have won the game. But the team came up empty. There was more of the same Wednesday, as a two-men on, one out chance went fruitless before finally Luis Arráez drove in Bryce Harper in the third to end an uncharacteristic 0-for-17 slump. That Arráez double scored the Phillies' only run of the afternoon.
The Phils are a light-hitting baseball club. That's been proven pretty factual. They also have an unreliable bullpen. They can't also lack timely hitting. These clutch spots need to bring out the best in a contending team.
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