Harper leaves early with back stiffness

The loss on the scoreboard Sunday afternoon for the Phillies paled in comparison to the loss that could’ve been incurred when Bryce Harper shouldered his bag and headed for the clubhouse in the seventh inning.

But manager Joe Girardi is hopeful that what he called “lower back stiffness” from the $330-million outfielder isn’t too serious.

“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and we’ll see if he’s available for me tomorrow,” Girardi said after a 6-3 loss to Toronto. “… He’ll get a lot of treatment and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

Girardi is unsure when Harper sustained the issue, but he labored in the field before striking out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Girardi suspects it’s been something that’s been bothering but not limiting Harper for a while.

Harper was not made available to the media. He was 0-for-4 with three flyouts to the outfield. After a hot start, Harper has cooled off in September, batting .236 (13-for-55) with four homers and just seven RBIs in his last 16 games. •••

The fruits of the trade with Boston designed to rebuild the bullpen have continued to underwhelm.

Brandon Workman, who has been used as a closer, was the

first man out of the bullpen to relieve Adonis Medina in the fifth. Workman worked a 1-2-3 frame against the top of the Blue Jays order, but fifth-inning work is a far cry from what the Phillies envisioned when they landed the former Red Sox closer. The priority at the moment for Girardi is getting him back on track.

“We told him that we would go to him earlier today because we weren’t going

to use some of our guys just because we didn’t have them,” Girardi said. “… He was like, whatever you need. He was better today. It’s important that we get him on track because we have another doubleheader, we’ve got four games in three days.”

It’s just the third of 13 appearances with the Phillies in which Workman hasn’t allowed a hit. It lowers his ERA to 6.39 since the trade.

Then there’s Heath Hembree. In a game with just six extra-base hits, Hembree managed to serve up four, allowing four runs while recording four outs. His blemishes

included a pair of doubles in the sixth, then Bo Bichette’s triple in the seventh followed by a home run to dead center by Theoscar Hernandez, his 16th of the year.

Hembree has been awful in a Phillies uniform, allowing 13 earned runs in 9.1 innings pitcher for a robust 12.54 ERA. He’s allowed seven home runs in 11 appearances.

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The Phillies announced their 40-man player pool for the postseason bubble, which does not precisely correspond to the 40-man roster.

Injured pitchers Jake Arrieta

and Spencer Howard are in the pool, as is Rhys Hoskins, though injured outfielder Kyle Garlick is not. The Phillies are carrying 21 pitchers, four catchers, seven outfielders and eight infielders.

Pitchers Victor Arano, Cole Irvin and Mauricio Llovera, all on the 40-man roster, are not in the pool. Four position players not on the 40man are in the pool: Journeyman catcher Jonathan Lucroy, recently DFA’ed utilityman Ronald Torreyes, outfielder Mikie Mahtook and young infielder Nick Maton.

Among the pool is Medina,

who performed well in four innings in his MLB debut. After early walks and miscues, the 23-year-old Dominican righty retired the last seven hitters he faced, tossing 84 pitches, more than the 75 or so he was stretched out to. Sitting 91-94 with his fastball and a four-pitch mix, Medina got some bad luck in the field despite inducing eight infield groundballs.

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NOTES » J.T. Realmuto (hip) “had a good day again today,” in Girardi’s words. Girardi isn’t ready to put Realmuto behind the dish, but he could be available in some role

Monday in the series opener against Washington. Hoskins (elbow) will travel with a goal of getting him to take swings this week. … The Phillies finish the season with a 1913 home record. They have seven road games left, starting with four in Washington, including a Tuesday doubleheader. Zack Wheeler (4-0, 2.62ERA) will oppose Anibal Sanchez (2-5, 7.38) Monday. Aaron Nola (5-3, 2.92) will man one of the two games Tuesday, and Zach Eflin (3-2, 4.28) is lined up for Wednesday. Thursday is an off day before a threegame set in Tampa Bay.