Phillies can’t finish Marlins sweep as Miami takes final game of series, 5-3

MIAMI — The stretch drive begins … now.

With three weeks to go, the Phillies remain well positioned to end their decadelong playoff drought, even after a 5-3 dud Thursday night against the Miami Marlins. They have 19 games left and a four-game cushion — plus, the tiebreaker — over the Milwaukee Brewers.

The odds are good — 94.6%, according to Baseball Prospectus.

But, well, let’s just say the road is about to get much tougher.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Rhys Hoskins hopes to play in Atlanta after bruising his right hand on hit by pitch

For years, the Phillies had their playoff hopes torpedoed, in part, by their inability to beat up on bad teams. It’s unfair, then, to point to their 28-5 record since the middle of July against the Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Washington Nationals — the league’s four worst teams — and call them a paper tiger.

It’s also true that after playing 22 games in a row — and 42 of the last 54 — against losing teams, the Phillies (80-63) will play their next nine games against the Atlanta Braves (88-55) and Toronto Blue Jays (81-63).

So, yes, they’re closing in on a playoff spot. It just won’t come easy.

The Phillies ran over a speed bump in their final meeting with the Marlins before another intimate gathering (announced crowd: 7,877). Noah Syndergaard created a 4-0 hole by giving up Jordan Groshans’ first major league homer in the third inning and a titanic three-run crusher to Bryan De La Cruz in the fourth.

When the Phillies acquired Syndergaard in a deadline trade, there were questions about how he may hold up down the stretch after barely pitching the last two years while coming back from Tommy John elbow surgery and working in a six-man rotation with the Los Angeles Angels.

It has been a mixed bag.

In eight starts, Syndergaard has posted a 4.79 ERA and allowed five homers in 47 innings. But he has completed at least six innings five times, and the Phillies are 5-3 in his starts.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Zach Eflin makes successful return, could be ‘Swiss Army knife’ down the stretch

But the Phillies head to Atlanta with bigger concerns. They faced three tough Marlins starters — Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, and Pablo López — and scored a total of 10 runs in the three games. It won’t get easier against the Braves, who will send lefty Max Fried to the mound Friday night followed by Jake Odorizzi and rookie phenom Spencer Strider on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Since the All-Star break, the Phillies have played only four series against winning teams. They went 3-2 in two series against the Braves and 2-5 in two against the New York Mets.

Seven of the next nine games come against Atlanta. Including next week’s two-game interlude with the Blue Jays and a season-ending three-game series in Houston, 12 of the last 19 will be against playoff-bound opponents.

Say this for the Phillies: They’ve proven that they’re good.

Now, everyone’s about to find out how good they really are.

Brandon Marsh accounted for most of the Phillies offense, going 4-for-4 with an RBI double in the seventh inning and a run-scoring single in the ninth. He had half of the Phillies’ hits in the game.

It was Marsh’s second career four-hit game. He also had four hits on Aug. 24, 2021, for the Angels against the Baltimore Orioles.

After shutting out the Phillies for five innings, López gave up a solo homer to Kyle Schwarber in the sixth.

It marked Schwarber’s league-leading 38th homer and matched his career high, set in 2019 with the Chicago Cubs. Schwarber has a two-homer lead over Atlanta’s Austin Riley for the NL crown.

With Rhys Hoskins sitting out while undergoing treatment for a bruised right hand after getting hit by a pitch Wednesday night, the Phillies moved Alec Bohm to first base and gave Edmundo Sosa a start at third.

Sosa exited in the sixth innings with right hamstring tightness.

It’s unclear when Sosa was hobbled or how long he may be out, but it may have happened when he ran out a grounder to third base in the top of the sixth.

In his previous five starts, Sosa was 10-for-18 with four doubles, one triple, and two homers.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Rhys Hoskins hopes to play in Atlanta after bruising his right hand on hit by pitch