Nola can't overcome shaky defense in NY

Aaron Nola probably deserved better on Sunday at Citi Field.

He needed to be nearly perfect against Mets ace Jacob deGrom, but perfection only seemed possible with a defense that played well behind him. But the defense failed Nola on multiple occasions, which proved to be more than enough in a 14-1 loss to the Mets. The Phillies have lost two consecutive games after winning 10 of their previous 11. They need to win Monday afternoon’s series finale to split the four-game series in New York.

• Box score

At least the Phillies know they have Zack Wheeler on the mound Monday.

“The guy is a stud and we know what he’s going to do,” Nola said.

The offense and rotation have carried the Phillies this season, while the bullpen has received most of the criticism for its early-season struggles. But the defense has been an issue. The Phils rank 24th in baseball in Defensive Runs Saved (-9), according to FanGraphs.

They ranked eighth last season after ranking 30th in 2018. The Phillies will need to tighten things up down the stretch.

“I think we can play better,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I think that when we make mistakes, it seems to be all in the same game, right? The games that we pitch well are usually pretty clean. When I look at defense, I look at -- did we make the plays that we should make? Sometimes there could be a physical thing that keeps a guy from making a play. He’s not as fast as maybe another guy or something like that. At times our defense has been really good, but there have been those games, like today, that it’s really let us down.”

The Mets had a runner on second with two outs in the first inning when Dominic Smith launched a ball to deep center field. Phillies center fielder Adam Haseley had a bad initial read on the ball and got his body twisted, which allowed the ball to fall and score Michael Conforto to hand the Mets a 1-0 lead.

“I was trying to spin around at the end,” Haseley said. “In the end, it got in the sun. It was just an all-around bad situation. In retrospect, I should’ve just opened up the other way and gotten to it, blocked the sun and just caught it.”

Nola looked frustrated in the dugout afterward, which is unusual. He is so mild-mannered that his happy face looks the same as his angry face. But Nola was upset because Brandon Nimmo, Conforto and Smith each hit his typically unhittable curveball for base hits.

“I really wasn’t sharp in the first inning,” Nola said. “I really didn’t feel too sharp all day.”

Pete Alonso hit a solo home run in the second, but two unearned runs scored in the fourth. Smith started the inning with a double, but Nola got Robinson Canó to bounce a ball back to the mound. Nola found Smith too far off second base, so he ran toward him to get him into a rundown. But Nola threw too early to shortstop Didi Gregorius, instead of running Smith even further toward second base. Gregorius then threw the ball a bit high to third baseman Alec Bohm.

The ball deflected off Bohm’s glove and sailed behind him to put runners on second and third with no outs.

“I probably could have done a couple things,” Nola said. “I could have given it up earlier. I could have run at him a little longer.”

Nola intentionally walked Jeff McNeil to load the bases with one out. Andrés Giménez ripped a ball to right-center field with two outs to score two runs to make it 4-1. Rhys Hoskins’ fielding error at first base with two outs in the fifth allowed another run to score to make it 5-1. Nola allowed a solo homer to McNeil in the sixth to make it 6-1.

“Maybe the only two runs he should have given up were the two solo home runs,” Girardi said.

Nola allowed eight hits and six runs (three earned), walked one and struck out 10 in 5 1/3 innings. A seven-run eighth inning against Mauricio Llovera and Blake Parker turned the game into a rout.

The Phillies might not have won anyway because deGrom dominated. He generated 35 swinging strikes, which tied for the most in a game by any pitcher since at least 2008. deGrom allowed three hits and one run, walked two and struck out 12 in seven innings. His fastball averaged 98.6 mph and touched 100.8 mph.

But who knows what might've happened if the Phils had played a little cleaner and kept the game closer.

“We did not play well today,” Girardi said.