Sunrise, sunset: Pirates 5, Phillies 2

The sun rises, the sun sets, the Phillies lose. Tonight they lost 5-2 to the Pirates.

Things had been going so well until about the fourth inning. Before then, they were leading 2-0 thanks to a two-run home run from Maikel Franco, and Ben Lively was cruising. And then, suddenly, he wasn’t. Truthfully, things were a mess all over the place. Josh Bell managed a triple on a ball that Nick Williams was so close to catching, but instead he ran into the wall, crumpled to the ground, got up, tried to find the ball in front of him, but then realized that the ball was behind him, picked it up, and threw it.

Yeah, it was an ordeal. A sac fly from the next batter tied the game, and at that point, the Phillies could still see their way out of it. There were two outs, and Lively could escape from the inning having only given up two runs. But the inning was far from over. Then there was a single. And then a walk. And Lively was just shaken. He couldn’t calm himself down enough when he had to make a throw to first on a dribbler near the mound, and the throw sailed so wide that it took Tommy Joseph off the bag.

So the bases were loaded, and Gerrit Cole, the opposing pitcher, was up. Again, Lively could have gotten out of this with the game tied and just two runs to his pitching line. But Cole singled, because of course he did. Two runs scored and the Pirates took the lead and wouldn’t give it back. The Bucs added another run in the sixth, but it couldn’t have mattered less. With the way the Phillies were hitting, the game was already over.

And to add insult to injury, the Phillies actually threatened in the seventh. Daniel Nava doubled, and Freddy Galvis singled. There was a runner in scoring position with less than two outs, so you know what happened next. Maikel Franco hit into an inning-ending double play.

Here are a few facts for you.

• The Phillies struck out 13 times tonight.
• They struck out 14 times last night.
• They were 1-for-8 with men in scoring position tonight.
• In the whole series, they’re 1-for-20 with men in scoring position.
• They lost like losery losers.
• Hey, I want to be nice, but they lost and it sucked and booooooo.

Here are more facts, but these ones are good.

• Daniel Nava was 3-for-4 with a walk.
• Tommy Joseph hit a triple. Seriously. No, SERIOUSLY. IT HAPPENED.
• Adam Morgan gave up one run in three innings of relief.
• Luis Garcia continued to dominate with 1.2 two-hit, no-run innings.
• And that’s it.
• No, seriously.

Come on, All-Star break. Get here fast.