Phillies' NL East-chase hindered in 2-0 loss to 100-loss O's

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — John Means struck out six and stymied Bryce Harper and a Philadelphia Phillies team in an eleventh-hour playoff push to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-0 win Monday night.

Losers of two straight, the Phillies entered two games behind Atlanta in the NL East. The Braves opened a four-game series in Arizona late Monday night against the 101-loss Diamondbacks. The Phillies were 3½ games behind St. Louis for the second wild card. Cincinnati also leads Philadelphia in the wild-card chase.

The Phillies opened a seven-game homestand with three against the 102-loss Orioles and four more against a Pittsburgh Pirates team inching toward 100 losses.

The Phillies desperately needed to pile up wins against two teams playing out the string if they wanted next week’s three-game set in Atlanta to have any postseason implications.

Here’s what they got instead: an offense led by Harper, an NL MVP candidate, handcuffed by Means, who tossed four-hit ball pitching into the seventh. Means, who pitched a no-hitter May 5, even doubled in the seventh for his first career extra-base hit.

Means (6-7) yielded to righty Cole Sulser with runners on the corners, and he retired Freddy Galvis on a flyball to right to end the seventh.

Harper, who led MLB with a 1.052 OPS, walked in the first inning, struck out swinging in the fourth and the sixth innings against Means. Harper represented the tying run but flew out to end the game a night earlier in a 4-2 loss to the Mets.

The slugging outfielder has been tasked with carrying the Phillies to the playoffs for the first time since 2011 without much help around him. Tyler Wells got Harper on a 401-foot flyball to center in the ninth, then retired J.T. Realmuto and Andrew McCutchen for his third save.

The Phillies were booed off the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Phillies-NL-East-chase-hindered-in-2-0-loss-to-16474618.php