Bats quiet after rain spoils Nola's stellar start

PHILADELPHIA -- Nobody could beat the Phillies this month.

But then a hard rain changed everything in the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday night in a 5-0 loss to the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. A one-hour, 44-minute delay spoiled the makings of a fantastic pitchers’ duel between Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola, who struck out seven in four scoreless innings, and Dodgers right-hander Max Scherzer, who struck out six in 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

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It also helped end Philadelphia's eight-game winning streak, the club's longest since a nine-game streak in 2011.

“It’s a tough one,” Nola said. “You can’t control any of that. It happens in the Northeast in the summer. You get rain all the time. But it’s a tough loss. It was a good eight-game stretch.”

Nobody knows what would have happened if Nola and Scherzer continued to pitch on Tuesday. Maybe the Phillies still would've lost. They managed just six hits and struck out 15 times, after all.

But things immediately turned in the Dodgers’ favor when Nola’s night ended. Nola, who has a 3.04 ERA in his past four starts, struck out seven of the first nine batters swinging -- five of them on curveballs.

“God, he was really good,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s probably as good as stuff as Aaron’s had all year long. It’s frustrating, but it’s Mother Nature and there’s not much you can do about it.

“I thought that’s the best curveball I’ve seen him have all year long. They were swinging through it. He was throwing strikes with it. He was throwing it below the zone. He was backdoor-ing it. He was doing everything, whatever he wanted with it. This is a good lineup that doesn’t necessarily strike out a lot. He was doing a really good job.”

The Phillies called for right-hander JD Hammer to start the fifth. He allowed an opposite-field home run to Corey Seager to start the inning, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Left-hander Matt Moore started the sixth. He allowed a leadoff double to Trea Turner and a one-out single to Will Smith to make it 2-0. Seager’s one-out double put runners on second and third.

Girardi pulled Moore for right-hander Enyel De Los Santos. AJ Pollock ripped a ball through a drawn-in infield to score both runners to make it 4-0. Max Muncy homered against Mauricio Llovera in the ninth.

The Phillies’ bullpen is not at full strength, and Girardi saved his best relievers (Héctor Neris, Archie Bradley, José Alvarardo, Ian Kennedy, etc.) for another time. In the future, Girardi expects to have left-hander Bailey Falter and right-handers Connor Brogdon and Sam Coonrod for those spots.

Alas, he used who he used on Tuesday.

But who will Girardi use on Saturday? The Phillies need a fifth starter as they wait for injured right-handers Zach Eflin and Chase Anderson to rejoin the rotation. Nola threw only 51 pitches, and Girardi said the Phils will discuss the possibility that he could return on short rest. But then he quickly added that Nola threw twice in the batting cage during the delay, inflating his pitch count and making it unlikely.

The Phillies might start Moore. They have few other options.

“We’re going to expect him to get outs for us,” Girardi said about Moore. “That’s what we expect of him, and I know that’s what he expects from himself. There’s a lot of decisions we’ve got to make in the next few days.”

The Phils also have to win. They play two more games this week against the Dodgers and three this weekend against the Reds, who are trying to catch the Brewers in the National League Central. After Philadelphia plays Los Angeles and Cincinnati, the club has 30 of its remaining 44 games against teams with losing records, including 20 games against teams in last place in their division (Marlins, Pirates, D-backs and Orioles).

But a rebound against Los Angeles is important, and not only because the Dodgers are the defending World Series champions. The Braves won on Tuesday to cut the Phillies' lead in the National League East to just one game.

“We’ll get back at it tomorrow,” Nola said.