Vince chased early to halt Phils' momentum

BOSTON -- Coming off a series in which they won three of four against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Phillies announced themselves at Fenway Park with a leadoff triple and an RBI double to earn them the early lead in Friday’s series opener.

It wouldn’t last long.

The Red Sox answered with two runs in the home half of the inning, though the Phils would retake the lead in the second before handing it over once again for good. After a momentous week in Chicago that brought the club within one game of .500 for the first time since June 20, Philadelphia dropped a crushing series opener, 11-5.

• Box score

“I mean, it’s one game,” manager Joe Girardi said. “You know we had a stinker tonight. And I always talk about, momentum starts with your pitcher the next day, right? So we need Matt Moore to go out and throw a good game for us. You know he’s pitched pretty well since he’s been back and we need him to do it tomorrow.”

Starter Vince Velasquez turned in his shortest start of the season, needing 74 pitches to get through 2 1/3 innings. The Phillies found themselves in an early hole after the righty was charged with a season-high eight earned runs on six hits while walking four and striking out two.

With the All-Star break approaching, Velasquez hopes to use the four days off as a “big reset button.” After competing for and earning a spot in the rotation, Velasquez gave the Phillies hope for their No. 4 spot, posting a 2.30 ERA in his first six starts. In his last seven, the right-hander has fallen to a 6.89 ERA (25 runs in 32 2/3 innings), with 29 strikeouts and 15 walks.

Prior to Friday, Velasquez appeared to be getting back on track. He threw seven scoreless innings against the Marlins on June 29, then made it through six innings against the Padres in his last start despite allowing five runs in the first two frames. Girardi had hoped Friday’s start was trending in a similar direction, but Velasquez couldn’t find his command like he did vs. San Diego.

“Yeah, the walks, mislocation and kind of just everything,” Velasquez said. “It just seemed like there was no command of pretty much anything that was coming out of my hand. Pretty much found barrels all the way around. And, you know, a couple intentional pitches going in just seemed like I was yanking a little bit, and then had no command of the slider at all. Everything was kind of backing up on me, and it was totally different than my preparation in the bullpen before the game, which is always a terrible feeling.”

Velasquez’s short outing forced Philadelphia to use four relievers -- and infielder Ronald Torreyes to mop up -- at a crucial time as the club finds itself in a gray area. The bullpen surrendered three runs, and then recorded 2 2/3 clean innings (including a five-pitch, 1-2-3 eighth for Torreyes) to end it.

“That was not ideal,” Girardi said. “But when I look at tomorrow, I have [Bailey] Falter for distance. I’ll have Ranger [Suárez], [José] Alvarado, Héctor [Neris], [Archie] Bradley and [Connor] Brogdon. So the guys that you’d expect to be down would be [Enyel] De Los Santos and [Brandon] Kintzler, and so there should be plenty of innings there.”

This series in Boston and the one the Phillies just finished in Chicago represent a potential turning point as they weigh their options as buyers or sellers ahead of the July 30 Trade Deadline. Girardi noted before Friday’s opener the importance of this final series ahead of the All-Star break, but also the grind the team has ahead.

“I mean, we have to continue to play well,” Girardi said. “You know we’ve won a couple series in a row, we’ve gotta win another one, try to win another one. And see where we’re at. We got a big series when we get back, and in reality, we’ve got three out of the four within our division when we get back. All four games, so I mean those are really important.”

Despite the lopsided score, the Phillies cobbled together nine hits (to the Red Sox’s 14), accounting for 11 of the game’s 21 hard-hit balls. J.T. Realmuto went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Bryce Harper recorded his 700th career RBI with his seventh-inning single.