No Moral Victories

Aaron Nola pitched one of his best games of the season against the Red Sox last night, but it wasn't enough as the Phils fell to Boston 2-1 in 13 innings to extend their losing streak to 4 games. Their lead in the National League East is down to 1/2 game.

Nola allowed 1 run on 6 hits over 8 innings against the best offense in baseball. He walked 1 hitter and threw 105 pitches, 73 for strikes.

Speaking of offense, it was nonexistent again for the Phils. They managed 10 hits (2 doubles, 8 singles) in 13 innings and scored just 1 run. Since hitting 7 homers against the Reds on Thursday night, the Phillies have scored a total of 7 runs.

When the offense is scuffling, mistakes are magnified. And they had a doozy of a mistake in the third inning. With Rhys Hoskins on third and Odubel Herrera on first, Carlos Santana hit a ground ball to third. Hoskins, who was running on contact, froze between home and third when Eduardo Nunez charged at him. Nunez threw home to catcher Sandy Leon, who chased Hoskins back to third. The thing is, Herrera was running full steam and was nearing third base when Leon threw back to the bag. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts tagged out Herrera and chased Hoskins toward home. Bogaerts threw it back to Nunez who was waiting to tag Hoskins out. It was not pretty.

Jake Arrieta will try to end the losing streak tonight. Scheduled Red Sox starter Drew Pomerantz has lost 3 of his last 4 starts and hasn't pitched past the fifth inning.