Bryson Stott remained hot at the plate, but Aaron Nola stumbled in the sixth inning, and multiple base running miscues hampered the Phillies in an 8-4 loss Tuesday night to the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
Nola took the loss, surrendering four runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. His ERA through three starts is a whopping 7.04.
“I didn’t make pitches when I needed to with two strikes," Nola told reporters afterward. "I felt like I was one pitch away, but I just kept missing a little bit, and they kept getting hits -- and it spiraled.”
Nola appeared to be in good shape heading into the sixth, but things unraveled when Luis Arraez laced a one-out triple to right field. From there, five of the next six hitters would record a hit while the Fish scored three runs to secure a 4-0 advantage.
The Phillies answered in the sixth with Kyle Schwarber hitting a solo blast to right field before Stott delivered a two-run single later in the frame.
Arraez homered for the Marlins in the seventh and then singled in the eighth to hit for the cycle. He's the first player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.
Base running again was problematic for the Phillies. Stott was caught too far off first base after his two-run single and thrown out to eliminate a potential rally.
Poor baserunning has been an issue in the early going for the Phils.
“You’ve got to control your emotions and try not to do too much,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We’ll clean that up.”
Stott finished with two hits and is hitting .422 this season.
“He just continues to do well and have good at-bats,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’ll be leading off [Wednesday]. We’ll have to figure it out moving forward, but he’ll be in the leadoff spot [Wednesday].”
The two clubs will conclude their series on Wednesday. Zack Wheeler will be on the mound for the Phils, while Edward Cabrera will start for the Marlins.
