Velasquez needed 52 pitches to get through two innings.
“It's very frustrating, personally, to have the same results of the last outing that I had,” Velasquez said. “The expectations on my behalf are very high, but at the same time it's not falling into my own results, with the results that I expect [of myself].”
Velasquez has not pitched more than 2 1/3 innings in three of his last four starts, plus he has surrendered 19 runs.
Aside from Velasquez, the Phillies looked anemic. The club committed several defensive miscues and collected just one hit against starter Wil Crowe who entered the day with a career ERA over 6.00.
“It's frustrating,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We haven't pitched consistently well the second half. We haven't gotten a lot of distance in a lot of our starts, and we've had to rely on our bullpen heavily, but tonight was a team effort. There really wasn't much that we did right tonight. … It's about the poorest game that we played all year.”
The Phillies made some moves at the trade deadline, acquiring starter Kyle Gibson, reliever Ian Kennedy, and infielder Freddy Galvis, but will it be enough to contend for the division?
“We think we made ourselves better,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said before Friday's first pitch. “We’re really happy with what took place. We think it gives us a chance to win -- a little better chance to win -- based upon what we did."
The Phillies continue their weekend set with the Pirates on Saturday with Aaron Nola on the mound. The Pirates counter with right-hander JT Brubaker.
