Bryce Harper was hitless in his return from back stiffness and Philadelpia manager Joe Girardi was ejected in the third inning of a 5-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on Monday night that dropped the Phillies back to .500 and hurt their playoff hopes.
A day after striking out with the bases loaded in the seventh off a loss to Toronto and coming out of the game, Harper went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts as the designated hitter, dropping his average to .254.
Third-place Philadelphia, trying for its first postseason appearance since 2011, fell to 27-27 and with six games left dropped behind Cincinnati (28-27) in the race among teams tor two playoff berths among teams that don’t finish first or second.