Girardi doubles down on support for closer

Run it back.

Do it again.

No retreat. No apologies. No Plan B.

Such was Joe Girardi's attitude Sunday, a short night after closer Hector Neris wasted a two-out, two-run lead in the ninth inning of a game the Phillies would lose, 8-7, in Atlanta.

Though the manager was predictably supportive of Neris and his leaky bullpen in the immediate aftermath of the sorry ending to a five-game winning streak, there seemed a chance he would begin to express some doubts a day later.

As if.

“If you look at Hector's numbers before last night, they're pretty darn good,” Girardi said. “We can make a lot of one outing. I know he's lost some games, but they have been tie games with a runner on second with nobody

out as well.

“I haven't made any changes. I haven't thought about making changes.”

Neris is 1-3 with two blown saves, a 4.54 ERA and a 19-to-6 strikeout-towalk ratio. Saturday, he allowed Pablo Sandoval to crush a two-out pinch-hit home run to force overtime. A week earlier, he surrendered a go-ahead home run to the Mets' Michael Conforto in the ninth.

Good numbers? “Hector made a bad pitch last night,” Girardi said. “That could happen in the seventh inning, too. Or the eighth. So, really, it comes down to execution.”

By Girardi's logic, if Neris is going to make a bad pitch anyway, there's no sense disrupting the rest of his bullpen rotation. He won't even formally consider a by-committee situation, even though the Phillies have had some success with that on days when Neris has been unavailable.

“I've said all along that I prefer the roles,” Girardi said. “And I prefer to have (Jose) Alvarado in a spot where I can unleash him against the toughest left-handed hitters. (Sam) Coonrod against righthanders. (Brandon) Kintzler against righties and lefties.”

Neris insists his recent troubles have not become a confidence drain.

“The game is in the past,” he said late Saturday. “Tomorrow is another day. It would be the same if you had the save; you have to focus on the next game. I don't have control of what happened today. It's a lost day. Tomorrow, I will just come to compete and help the team if they need me to win the game.”

• • •

With one hit in his last nine at-bats, and without a home run in his last 12 games, Rhys Hoskins found himself hitting seventh Sunday against Braves righthander Huascar Ynoa.

Jean Segura, who was 7-for-his-last-9 with a home run, was in Hoskins' usual two spot.

“Well, I just don't think you can ignore what Jean is doing,” Girardi said. “He's been so good against righthanders and left-handers that you just can't ignore it. I told Rhys this is not a permanent thing, but sometimes when a guy has swung the bat for somewhat of a substantial period of time, I think you have to make adjustments.”

Segura entered the game hitting .391. Hoskins was at .233.

•••

While he had missed time with a wrist injury, Bryce Harper had not hit a home run since April 25 entering play Sunday. A night earlier, he was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.

Girardi, to no surprise, was in no hurry to sling criticism.

“He hasn't played in the last week or so,” he said. “That's probably a timing issue. I think he will get it going.”

Harper was 2-for-5 with an RBI in a 12-2 victory in Atlanta Friday.

•••

Matt Moore, who pitched a scoreless inning of relief Saturday, has lost his spot in the rotation to Vince Velasquez. Girardi believes he can be a bullpen value.

“I'll use Matt against lefthanders,” he said. “I will, too. And I'll use him for distance for a couple innings. I don't think that hurts us.”