Gibson, Phillies miss chance to gain in East 

MILWAUKEE – The Phillies found themselves in a bad spot as the July 30 Trade Deadline approached.

Zach Eflin was on the injured list with a bad right knee, and at the time they thought he might miss only two to three more weeks. Vince Velasquez had a 7.74 ERA in his previous 10 starts. Matt Moore had a 6.98 ERA in nine starts. The Phillies needed to do something. If they stood pat, they essentially would be waving the white flag and saying they could not make the postseason until 2022.

So, the Phillies acquired All-Star right-hander Kyle Gibson in a six-player trade with Texas. Gibson had a 3.16 ERA in six appearances with the Phillies in August, stabilizing the rotation alongside Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez. But Gibson has struggled in two appearances this month, including Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field. The loss cost the Phillies an opportunity to gain ground on the Braves in the National League East. The Braves lost to Washington, keeping the Phillies 2 1/2 games back with 23 games to play.

“Thankfully, the Braves didn’t take care of business as well,” Gibson said. “I think everybody is going to be sitting and biting their fingernails a little bit as we go down the stretch here, but we believe if we take care of business we’re going to be just fine.”

The Phillies will be leaning on Gibson and the rest of the rotation, especially if teams start pitching around Bryce Harper, like they did Wednesday. Harper hit a first-inning home run to give them a 1-0 lead. The Brewers walked him in each of his next three plate appearances, including the eighth inning to put the tying runner on second base.

“I think that’s probably the smart play,” Gibson said. “He’s locked in.”

J.T. Realmuto hit behind Harper on Wednesday. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and five runners left on base. Somebody will need to make teams pay or walking Harper might become more of a thing.

“Those guys will get going,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said.

Gibson allowed seven hits, three runs and four walks and struck out five in 4 2/3 innings. He has allowed 11 earned runs in 10 innings this month. He has a 4.60 ERA in eight appearances with the Phillies overall.

In the first inning, he allowed a leadoff single to Kolten Wong and he walked Eduardo Escobar. He allowed a one-out double to Omar Narváez to score a run. He walked Luis Urías to load the bases. Gibson threw 24 pitches to that point, with only nine strikes.

Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham visited him on the mound. Gibson followed the chat with a walk to Daniel Vogelbach to force home another run.

Gibson avoided further damage, but he allowed another run in the second to make it 3-1. He retired nine of 10 at one point, but after he put two on with two outs in the fifth, Girardi pulled him at 103 pitches.

“It was a frustrating first inning,” Gibson said. “I felt really good warming up, stretch and windup. I don’t know if I got a little bit quick in the stretch, but I just didn’t have the same feel for my fastball out of the stretch. As I got into my offspeed later in the game, I felt a lot better with it. So I’ll go back and take a look, what it might have been mechanically, but I finally just said, 'OK, I’m going with the windup. I can’t just keep doing this from the stretch,' and I felt a little better there.”

Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta loaded the bases in the third and walked Harper to score a run. Realmuto’s fielder’s choice scored another run to tie the game, but Escobar’s home run against Connor Brogdon in the sixth gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead.

The Phillies return home to open a seven-game homestand against the Rockies and Cubs. They play their next 17 games against teams without a winning record. It affords them an opportunity to beat up on teams already looking toward 2022.

They will need more from their starters, including Nola (nine earned runs in nine innings this month) and Gibson. Suárez, who got pulled early from Saturday’s start in Miami because of a triceps issue, will start Thursday. The Phillies will use their bullpen on Friday.

“I think our rotation is fine,” Girardi said. “Obviously, everyone this time of year is going to worry about fatigue for every player that’s out there. But that’s just the nature of the game and you’ve got to find a way to fight through it.”