Unlucky Jhoan Duran moment costs Bryson Stott chance to regain Phillies fans' trust

The numbers don't necessarily show it, but Bryson Stott's production has been among the most consistent for the Philadelphia Phillies' offense when he's not playing in a platoon role.

In Tuesday night's 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Stott went 2-for-4, including an infield single in the sixth and what should have been a game-defining double in the top of the ninth inning. As longtime Phillies fans know, however, there's always room for the boys to blow it in the end.

While a random game at the beginning of June might not mean much to many fans, anyone who enjoys a hard-fought win hoped that Tuesday night's efforts would result in a win. However, a wild pitched followed by a fastball single down the heart of the plate was just enough for the Jays to take game two.

Bryson Stott's heroic top of the ninth falls short after a Jhoan Duran blunder walks it off for Toronto

The Blue Jays' prime relief arm, Louis Varland, took the mound for Toronto to start the ninth, and after seeing Bryce Harper in his first at-bat, he gave up a walk. One of baseball's hottest hitters, Brandon Marsh, dug in next, and as even Hercules once learned, you can't win every battle: he struck out swinging.

Alec Bohm, who's turned things around after an abysmal start to the season, dug in next at the dish, and after just two pitches, grounds it back to Varland, which, while not great, did what it needed to do by moving Harper over to second, then, an unlikely hero dug into the plate.

With shades of franchise cornerstone Chase Utley shining through, Stott needed to watch one 99 mph fastball go by before nailing the second, down in the bottom middle of the zone, into left, which easily scored Harper from second.

Stott has been hitting .346 with a .452 OPS to start the month, and he's starting to rival DH Kyle Schwarber for the "Mr. June" title. He's also managed to tally seven runs batted in already this month, giving some reprieve to the two primary offensive noise makers in the Phillies' lineup, Schwarber and Harper.

With players like Stott, Bohm, and even Adolis García finding their strides again, especially as the usual red-hot bat of Schwarber is cooling off, it's been great to see each game feel like a true team effort, with all nine, sometimes ten if you count the pinch runners/hitters, contributing to each win and not giving up when the games are close.

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