The Philadelphia Phillies need to hit a damn baseball. Late last night, they were in Arizona to face the Diamondbacks. For those unfamiliar, the Diamondbacks one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. Their pitchers have the highest team ERA in the National League. They allow the more hits and runs than any other baseball team. So of course, last night, they held the Phillies to two runs on three hits, to take game one of an important three game series against Philly. The Diamondbacks are on pace to lose over 100 games this season. The Phillies, are looking for their first playoff appearance in a decade.

The Phillies eight game winning streak is a thing of the past. It is worth noting that during that stretch of baseball, they batted .289 with a .901 OPS while hitting 16 home runs and scoring 55 times, which is good for 6.9 runs per game. Since then, they had to face a tough Dodgers team and a tough Reds team. They lost 4-of-6 to those ball clubs and dropped game one against Arizona. As a team, they are hitting .183 with a .556 OPS. They only have four home runs and scored on 17 runs total. If you are only scoring 2.4 runs per game, it’s extremely hard to win baseball games.

Last night, Bryce Harper got things going for the Phillies with another solo home run, his 22nd of the year. Gregorius singled after and the Phillies weren’t able to get another hit until Brad Miller doubled in the ninth inning.

Check out these numbers recently from the rest of the Phillies lineup:

• Jean Segura (1-for-21)
• JT Realmuto (4-for-27)
• Didi Gregorius (1-for-11)
• Andrew McCutchen (2-for-22)
• Brad Miller (2-for-24)
• Travis Jankowski (3-for-29)

Even Bryce Harper hasn’t been great lately. He has five hits in his last 25 at-bats with a .417 OBP and a .640 SLG. This lineup is desperately missing a bat like Rhys Hoskins provided them before hitting the injury list. He is eligible to return to the team tonight, but recent reports suggest he won’t be back until Thursday. Hoskins was crushing the ball before getting hurt, slashing .435/.500/.957 in his last seven games, with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs. Getting Hoskins’ bat back is crucial for this team, who has struggled to hit the long ball over the last two series.

Kyle Gibson was on the mound last night and was efficient yet again for the Phillies. He allowed three runs in six innings. The Phillies will send Ranger Suarez to the mound tonight. Ranger has been absolutely incredible since joining the rotation, allowing just one run over 10 innings in three starts.

The bats have to come alive again and they will. The only thing worth worrying about is how quickly that will happen. The Braves won last night and extended their lead to 2.5 games in the National League East. The hunt for Red October is far from over, but it would be great to see the Phillies beat bad teams.

The Hunt for Red October continues. Grab some custom t-shirts >>