Phillies fall to Rockies for eighth straight loss, end hopes of winning season

DENVER — It took just 12 minutes on Thursday afternoon for the Phillies to fall behind. They were blown out in the first three games at Coors Field and it did not take long in a 5-3 loss to the Rockies to realize that another defeat was near.

The Phillies began their winless eight-game road trip with a four-game sweep by the Braves that eliminated them from playoff contention. The Phils ended it with a four-game sweep by the Rockies, which ended their hopes of a winning season.

The Phillies have lost 15 of their last 19 games. To just finish .500, they have to win their final three games. Their 0-8 road trip is tied for their worst trip since the inaugural 1883 Phillies finished a winless nine-game trek.

"Really disappointing road trip. Not much more to say about it," manager Gabe Kapler said.  "It wasn't our best baseball. We have to lick our wounds and get back to Philadelphia. We expect to finish the season strong and we'll do everything in our power to achieve that outcome."

Jake Arrieta allowed three runs in six innings. David Dahl homered off him in the first and Trevor Story homered in the second.

Arrieta kept the Phillies close in his final start of the season. But close was not enough for a team that was outscored, 39-7, this week. Arrieta pitched eight shutout innings on Aug. 6 before finishing his season with a 6.35 ERA in his next nine starts.

Tommy Hunter allowed a homer and an RBI triple in the seventh before being lifted.

"Moving forward we know that we don't want to feel like this again," Arrieta said. "We want to continue to play into October and we didn't make that happen and we had an opportunity to. It just didn't happen. It didn't come to fruition, but you know it's an opportunity for us as individuals to learn over the next three or four months and show up to Clearwater ready to go and with certain things in mind that we'd all like to get better at. And if we do that as a group we're going to be pretty good next year."

Carlos Santana doubled to start the second but did not score. The Phillies doubled twice in the fourth inning yet did not score. They had runners on first and second in the fifth and could not score. Jose Bautista homered in the third and Santana hit a two-run homer in the eighth after Rhys Hoskins was hit by a pitch. But that rally was not enough to stop the  slide.

"I do not think our team has quit on the season or quit in general," Kapler said. "I just think today was pretty good evidence that we still have some fight in us."