PHILADELPHIA — Rob Thomson will spend the Phillies’ day off at home — as in, his actual house.

Thomson resides in Ontario, driving distance from Toronto, where the Phillies will play this week. He has a favorite chair in the living room and a pool out back, ideal spots to ponder what went wrong this weekend at Citizens Bank Park.

“There’s a couple of things that I’m going to look back on over today’s game and question myself over,” Thomson said after the Phillies lost, 5-2, to the scorching Brewers and got swept at home for the first time since last July. “Not only do we have to play better, but I have to manage better.”

Hold that thought. The Phillies fumbled a one-run lead with two out in the seventh inning when shortstop Trea Turner booted a routine grounder, enabling the tying run to score from third base. One batter later, reliever Orion Kerkering gave up a two-run double to pinch-hitting Jake Bauers.

Nothing the manager could do about that.

“Just didn’t read the hop great,” said Turner, who hadn’t made an error since April 29, a span of 29 games. “I need to go backwards probably a half-step. Kind of just gave myself a tough hop. It hit me in the wrist and rolled up, and that’s the difference in the game.”

Said Thomson: “Just kind of a routine ground-ball. He knows that he’s got to make the play.”

Turner had a chance for redemption in the ninth. But with a runner on second base and two out, Rhys Hoskins squeezed his mitt on Turner’s foul pop to seal the Brewers’ seventh straight victory and send the Phillies (36-23) to their fourth consecutive loss — all without Bryce Harper, who has been out with a bruised right elbow.

Cue the boos, as 44,076 patrons filed out of their seats.

Just as the Phillies overtook the New York Mets for the division lead with a recent 9-1 stretch against the woeful Pirates, Rockies and Athletics, the Mets took back first base by going 5-1 this week against the White Sox and Rockies.

Neither of the NL East powers will read much into the last two weeks.

But Thomson will dwell on a decision in the sixth inning.

With the Phillies leading by one run, he decided not to pinch hit for Weston Wilson, even though the Brewers brought in a righty reliever and Max Kepler is a better defender than Wilson in left field.

Not only did Wilson strike out, but in the seventh inning, he took a bad route to a ball that went over his glove for a leadoff double for Caleb Durbin, who eventually scored on Turner’s error.

Oops.

Should the Phillies have put Kepler in the game in the sixth?

“Now looking back on it,” Thomson said, “yeah.”

Wilson blamed himself for taking what Thomson described as a “checkmark” route because he took a step back, then came in and retreated again.

“That’s a ball I should catch,” Wilson said. “I just didn’t see it off the bat right away. I got a bad jump. I heard [center fielder Johan] Rojas. I don’t know if it was [someone] in the seats behind him. I don’t know. I just didn’t get a good read. But it’s a ball that’s got to be caught.”

It wasn’t all bad for the Phillies. Harper likely will be back in the lineup Tuesday night against the Blue Jays. He wasn’t available off the bench Sunday, according to Thomson, but felt better after going through a pregame routine.

Without Harper, the Phillies went 1-4 this week and hit only one homer in the five games.

“He’s such an impact player and such a good good offensive player, and even when he’s not going well, he’s walking, he’s making it tough on guys,” Turner said. “We definitely miss him. But that being said, we’ve got to pick it up, figure out ways to score runs without him in the meantime.”

They didn’t have much to show for it, but the Phillies had better at-bats against Brewers starter José Quintana than last October, when they faced the former Mets lefty with the season on the line in Game 4 of the divisional series. After that game, Turner famously said he thought Phillies hitters often “get ourselves out.”

This time, the Phillies were more patient. In the first inning, Turner laid off four pitches just off the outside corner to draw a leadoff walk, stole two bases, and scored on a two-out single in the first inning.

The Phillies worked four walks against Quintana, two of which scored. Bryson Stott walked in the second inning and scored when Kyle Schwarber, not known for his speed, beat out an infield single, high-stepping past first base and drawing laughs from the dugout.

But the Phillies were unable to tack on runs. They went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.

Without margin for error, Turner’s error proved costly. But his defense has been better on the whole. It wasn’t lost on several team officials that Turner hadn’t made an error in more than a month.

As a team, the Phillies rank second-to-last in the majors in defensive runs saved. Defensive metrics can be misleading. The eye test would seem to suggest they’ve played better than that.

Just more for Thomson to think about at home Monday.

“I don’t know how to put a number on it, but it looks bad right now because of the last two days,” Thomson said. “I know they’re working at it. We’ve got to clean it up, and we will. But we’ve got to play better.”

____

©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.