Phillies bullpen spoils series finale vs Pirates, bats go cold in 105 degree South Philly heat

The Phillies lost 6-1 to the Pirates on Thursday afternoon in 105-degree heat at Citizens Bank Park because the bullpen decided to give away all six runs after Rangel threw four scoreless innings.

The offense produced four hits total against a Pittsburgh pitching staff that has no business shutting down a lineup with Schwarber, Harper, Marsh, and Turner in it.

The thermometer on the scoreboard read 105 when Mason Montgomery struck out Marsh, Bohm, and Stott to end the game at 3:38 PM and honestly the temperature might have been the best excuse anyone had for the performance because nothing else about Thursday’s loss made sense from a team that scored 10 runs against the reigning Cy Young winner 24 hours earlier.

Series split with Pittsburgh, two wins and two losses, and the Phillies are 49-39 heading out on the road for nine games before the All-Star break.

Not how you want to end a homestand but the Phillies had 18 wins in June, scored 153 runs during the month, and are 10 over .500 after being 10 under on April 26, so losing a series finale to the Pirates in triple-digit heat while the bullpen implodes isn’t going to derail anything about where this team is headed as long as the front office addresses the glaring problems before August.

Phillies Left-Handed Bullpen Situation Is Genuinely Embarrassing

I need Dombrowski to pick up the phone and call every team in baseball with a left-handed reliever available because what the Phillies are running out there from the left side of the bullpen right now is a disaster that has cost them games over the last two days and is going to keep costing them games until someone with actual authority makes a move.

Backhus hit two of the three batters he faced on Wednesday night, forced in a run, and then came back Thursday and gave up a solo homer to the first batter he saw. That’s three batters faced on Thursday and one of them put a ball in the seats, which is the kind of performance that should have the coaching staff seriously questioning whether this man belongs on a roster that is trying to make the playoffs.

Mayza has been steady most of the season but faced five batters in the fifth on Thursday and gave up three hits and the tying run because even the reliable arms are having days where the Pirates’ lineup is sitting on everything and making hard contact that finds holes.

Then there’s Alvarado, who came into Thursday with four straight scoreless appearances that made everyone briefly forget he has a 6.10 ERA on the season and has allowed 41 hits in 31 innings.

The four clean outings were nice while they lasted and then the seventh inning happened with three hits including a triple and two runs that put the Pirates ahead for good because Alvarado at his worst is a batting practice machine who throws 100 mph with no movement to hitters who know the fastball is coming and sit on it like they’re playing slow-pitch softball.

The Phillies cannot go into October with Alvarado as their primary left-handed option out of the bullpen because the 6.10 ERA isn’t a slump, it’s who he is in 2026, and pretending otherwise because he occasionally strings together four or five clean outings between the blowups is the kind of wishful thinking that gets you eliminated in the Division Series when a left-handed hitter sits on a 100 mph fastball in the seventh inning and puts it in the gap to end your season.

Dombrowski needs a lefty reliever at the deadline.

Rangel Keeps Doing His Job and the Phillies Keep Wasting It

Rangel threw four scoreless innings on 90 pitches in his third start since being called up and across those three outings he’s given the Phillies 14 innings of three-run ball with the funky arm angle and the zone-filling approach that has made him a legitimate option for the fifth starter spot that was a complete black hole when Painter was occupying it.

Four scoreless innings on Thursday and the bullpen turned it into a 6-1 loss because the guys behind Rangel couldn’t hold a one-run lead long enough for the offense to add on, which is becoming a pattern where the fifth starter does his job and the middle relief undoes it before the back-end arms even get a chance to enter the game.

Rangel isn’t an ace and nobody is pretending he is, but the man has been good enough to keep the Phillies competitive in every start and the front office owes it to him and to the rest of the roster to put a bullpen behind him that can actually protect leads instead of handing them back to the opposing team every time Rangel exits the game after four or five innings.

Bryce Harper Has an RBI in Eight Straight Games and Might Be in the Home Run Derby at His Own Ballpark

The one offensive highlight from Thursday’s mess was Harper doubling in a run in the third inning to extend his RBI streak to eight consecutive games with 57 on the season and 20 homers while posting a .906 OPS that is tied for 10th in the majors.

The man hasn’t missed a game all season, he’s been the most consistent producer in the lineup since switching to the heavy bat, and he’ll find out Saturday whether he’s made the NL All-Star team for a game that’s being played at Citizens Bank Park on July 14.

Stay Hot, Bryce Harper

Down the line
Off the wall
On the board! pic.twitter.com/XLpfh5b8gz

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 2, 2026

Harper said he’ll consider participating in the Home Run Derby if he makes the team, which he won in 2018 with his dad Ron pitching to him when he beat Schwarber in the finals. Harper and Schwarber in the Derby as teammates at Citizens Bank Park with Schwarber leading the majors at 30 homers would be the best possible content for All-Star week and I need the Phillies to make this happen because watching those two launch balls into the upper deck at the Bank in front of a hometown crowd during the Midsummer Classic is the kind of event that this city would talk about for years.

The Next Nine Games Are Against Teams That Are a Combined 35 Under .500

The Phillies are off Friday before heading to Kansas City for three against the Royals, then three at Cincinnati, then three at Detroit. The Royals, Reds, and Tigers entered Thursday a combined 35 games under .500, which means the Phillies are about to spend the next week and a half beating up on teams that aren’t going to the playoffs and have no business competing with a roster that has the best top-three rotation in baseball and an offense that just scored 153 runs in the month of June.

This is the part of the schedule where good teams separate from average teams because the ability to take care of business against inferior opponents and stack wins heading into the break is what determines whether you enter the second half with momentum or limp into the All-Star Game feeling like you let opportunities slip away.

The Phillies should be going 7-2 or 8-1 on this road trip because the competition is soft, the rotation lines up with Sanchez, Wheeler, and Luzardo all getting multiple starts, and the offense has been producing at a level that should overwhelm pitching staffs from three teams that are playing out the string before the trade deadline turns them into sellers.

Thursday’s loss was annoying because the bullpen gave away a game that the pitching staff and the offense had kept competitive, but one ugly afternoon in 105-degree heat against a decent Pirates lineup doesn’t change the fact that the Phillies are 49-39 with the second-most wins in baseball during June and are about to play nine consecutive games against teams they should handle comfortably.

The trajectory is still pointed straight up and the schedule is about to cooperate in a way that could have the Phillies sitting at 15 over .500 by the time the All-Star break arrives.

Kansas City on Saturday. Stack wins. Let Dombrowski work the phones for a bullpen arm. Come back from the break ready to chase Atlanta down the stretch.

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