Washington

Phillies Fall Flat Across the Board, Drop Series to Diamondbacks

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PHOENIX - Vince Velasquez's run of outstanding pitching ended and the bats were quiet as the Phillies suffered a 6-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon.

The Phillies were out-hit, 13-4. They had just one extra-base hit. They did not draw a walk until the ninth inning and struck out 10 times.

The Phillies lost two of three in the series, including Monday night's opener. They blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning in that one and lost in 14 innings as they wasted eight shutout innings from Jake Arrieta.

The Phillies bounced back and won Tuesday night's game, 5-2, behind Nick Pivetta's six shutout innings.

The run of starting pitching excellence did not continue in the series finale.

Velasquez, who had given up just five runs and held opposing hitters to a .168 batting average in 33 1/3 innings over his previous seven outings, was tagged for six hits and four runs in four innings of work.

Velasquez's fastball did not have its usual sizzle and he gave up a couple of big hits on his slider as the D-backs rallied for three runs in the third inning. Velasquez gave up a leadoff double on a 1-2 slider to Jon Jay in that inning. He then hit Paul Goldschmidt with a 1-2 fastball and was tagged for a two-run triple by David Peralta on a 0-1 slider.

The Diamondbacks got three more hits and a run in the fourth against Velasquez and that was it for the right-hander, who fell to 8-9 with a 3.98 ERA.

Prior to Velasquez's poor outing, Phillies starters had racked up eight straight starts in which they had not given up more than three runs, and they only did that once. The starters' ERA in those starts was 1.46.

While Velasquez struggled, Arizona starter Patrick Corbin sailed. The left-hander held the Phillies to four hits over 7 1/3 shutout innings. Corbin walked none and struck out nine. He is 9-4 with a 3.15 ERA and will be very attractive on the free-agent market this winter (see story).

The one highlight of the game for the Phillies was rightfielder Nick Williams robbing A.J. Pollock of a home run in the fifth inning.

The loss left the Phillies at 64-50 as they head into an off day Thursday before opening a three-game series at San Diego on Friday. The Phils still lead the NL East, but their lead could be down to a half-game depending upon the outcome of the Atlanta-Washington game Wednesday night.

The Padres have the worst record in the NL so the Phils need to capitalize. They will send Zach Eflin, Aaron Nola and Arrieta to the mound in the series. The Padres had not yet announced their rotation.

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