The last night of May was like so many others for the Phillies.
Not enough offense, a defensive error and a long ball against the bullpen conspired against the Phils as they suffered a 7-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants in 11 innings at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday evening.
As if a fifth straight loss and the painful reality of a 12½ game deficit in the NL East weren’t insulting enough, the Phils also suffered an injury.
Second baseman Jean Segura took a throw with his right index finger trying to bunt in the seventh inning. X-rays revealed a fracture. He will undergo further tests on Wednesday but will be on the injured list.
Segura is one of the team’s best hitters, as well as one of its few reliable defenders.
“Someone is going to have to step in,” manager Joe Girardi said.
Shortstop Didi Gregorius has recovered from a sprained knee and is playing in rehab at Triple A. His schedule may be accelerated. Johan Camargo, who played a lot of shortstops with Gregorius out, could move to second base.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Girardi said. “We will discuss it tonight.
It looked like a lot of fun after a four hour and 52 minute game.
The Phils ended a miserable month from May 10-18.
“June has to be better,” Girardi said. “The last two weeks have been really frustrating for our club. We’ve had a lot of tough losses, the last ones (three) in extra innings. It was really difficult. We had chances to win; we just didn’t.
The Phils had chances to win Tuesday night. They left the potential winning run in second in ninth when Nick Castellanos retired. They left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th when former Phillie Jose Alvarez took out Roman Quinn to end the game. The Phils left 14 men on base and were just 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
The Giants scored three times in the top of the 11th against reliever Andrew Bellatti to break a 4-4 tie. Donovan Walton had an RBI double and Joc Pederson a two-run homer in the inning.
Starter Ranger Suarez battled some command issues but got some big takedowns when he needed them. Relievers Connor Brogdon and Seranthony Dominguez also had big outs and the score was tied 3-3 after nine innings.
The Giants went through the tiebreaker run on an error by pitcher Jeurys Familia in the top of the 10th.
The extra round started with a man in second position. Familia induced a hard-hit ground ball to first base by Pederson. Rhys Hoskins lined the ball up deep behind the sack and threw a pitch to Familia, but the pitcher was not only late reaching the sack, he dropped the pitch allowing Wilmer Flores to score from second.
The Phils tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the 10th on an Alec Bohm hit. The ground ball would have been game over, but it hit the second base sack and was carried into center field, allowing the run to score.
It turned out that Familia’s mental error (not covering base in time) and physical error in the top of the 10th put the Phillies in a bind.
“He didn’t go over the time limit,” Girardi said. “I mean, it’s Baseball 101. He’s probably done it 1,000 times.”
If he had done it this time…
“They might not have scored,” Girardi said — and the Phillies might have won on Bohm’s hit in the bottom of the 10th.
Instead, the Phillies are 21-29 going into June.
Hard to believe.
“I really think we’re better than our records,” Kyle Schwarber said. “But we have to go out there and find a way to win games.”
Starting Wednesday night with Aaron Nola on the mound. He will try to prevent the Phils from being swept in two consecutive series.
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