Phillies’ struggles out west continue in a blowout loss to the Diamondbacks, Zac Gallen

PHOENIX — You’d be hard-pressed to come up with two more disparate outings than Aaron Nola’s last two starts. On Aug. 25 against the Reds, he threw an 11-strikeout complete game. On Aug. 30 against the Diamondbacks, he only went four innings, allowing 10 hits, eight runs — all earned — and no walks with five strikeouts and one home run in a 12-3 Phillies loss. It was the first time Nola had allowed eight runs in a game since 2016.

Nola hardly was the only problem. The Phillies made a few costly defensive mistakes — including throwing errors from catcher Garrett Stubbs and third baseman Alec Bohm. After an offensive explosion against Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner in the first four innings of Monday night’s game, the Phillies failed to score a run in their next 12.

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen, who entered his start with a 2.66 ERA, held the Phillies to just two hits over seven innings. Gallen, a Bishop Eustace alumnus, was always going to be a tough matchup. After his outing on Tuesday, he now has a scoreless streak of 34 and one-thirds innings..

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Phillies’ interim manager Rob Thomson often praised his team’s ability to bounce back from tough losses, and after blowing a 7-0 lead on Monday, the Phillies badly needed a win — or at the very least, to score some runs. But they were unable to do either.

After building momentum at home, with a four-game sweep of the Reds followed by a series win abasing the Pirates, it wasn’t the way the Phillies would have liked to start their six-game road trip. They’ll try to avoid the sweep Wednesday, when they play their series finale against Arizona.

“You hate to lose any game, but it’s just one game,” said Thomson. “But we’ve got to bounce back tomorrow. Take the same approach, come in prepared, compete, go get them. Get a good one out of (Bailey) Falter. He’s been throwing well.”

Nola’s struggles in September have been well documented. Over his eight-year career, his ERA has jumped from 2.85 in August to 4.60 in September. Nola said last year that he was “tired” of hearing about the change from month-to-month, but his start on Tuesday didn’t do much to dispel that narrative.

Thomson said that he thought Nola’s stuff was good, but that the starter struggled to command his fastball.

“He threw plenty of strikes, I just think he missed his spots, at times,” Thomson said of Nola. “They had good at-bats against us. The thing is, what scares me sometimes is a guy throwing complete games and then coming back on regular rest. I mean, that can wear you out. He’s not going to admit to that, but it worries me. He’s going to get some extra rest now.”

“They didn’t miss many pitches,” Nola said of his start. “They squeaked a couple of balls through some holes, they took some good swings on several pitches. Leadoff guy on pretty much every inning. I think that hurt me, to start off every inning. I just didn’t make two-strike pitches like I needed to. They capitalized on it.

“I think they did a good job of trying to keep me in the zone and not missing pitches that I threw in the zone.”

With Zach Wheeler on the 15-day injured list (and expected to return on Sept. 6), Ranger Suárez struggling with his command, and Zach Eflin on the IL, the Phillies’ can’t afford another rough September from Nola. Their starting pitching, which once was one of their biggest assets, is starting to look pretty thin.

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The Phillies tore the cover off the ball in the first four innings of Monday’s game — hitting multiple balls that came off the bat at 100 mph or faster. On Tuesday night, they only had two hits that came above 100 mph mark — and four hits total — including a big home run from Brandon Marsh. It was his first home run as a Phillie.

It was a promising sign from the center fielder, who was activated off the 10-day injured list on Aug. 27. Marsh went 2-for-3, and his home run — a three-run shot off of Noe Ramirez — traveled 409 feet.