Phils' bats looking to get back to 'fundamentals' with RISP

PHOENIX -- Philadelphia’s offense has dried up in the desert.

Bryce Harper was 2-for-4 with an RBI, but that was all the offense the Phillies could muster on Saturday in an 11-1 loss to the D-backs at Chase Field. Philadelphia has dropped two straight games, recording just three runs over that span.

Aaron Nola took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits in five innings of work.

The Phillies have put runners on base in each of their last two games, but the production has not been there when they’re threatening to score. The team is a combined 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position over its last two games, stranding seven baserunners in the process.

“It all gets back to fundamentals,” manager Rob Thomson said. “You have to be able to use the field, and you have to make contact and we’re not doing that right now. We’re chasing a little bit.”

The Phillies had ample opportunity to keep it close -- or even take the lead -- before the D-backs blew the game open in the seventh. They loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first, but Brandon Marsh was called out on strikes before Nick Castellanos grounded into a forceout at third base to end the inning.

Philadelphia also had runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth innings, when it was still well within striking distance, but converted on just one of those opportunities: Harper’s groundout, which made it 2-1 in the fifth.

The Phillies reached base just once after that inning -- catcher Garrett Stubbs’ one out walk in the ninth. By that point, Arizona had the game well in hand.

“That’s kind of what separates you from wins and losses, when those opportunities do come up, capitalizing on them,” Stubbs said. “It seems like it’s not really falling right now for us in those spots where we need to capitalize, but I have full confidence that that’s going to change with the lineup that we have and the amount of talent that we have in this locker room.”

The deficit late in the game allowed for right-hander Max Lazar to make his MLB debut in the bottom of the eighth, and the 25-year-old recorded his first career strikeout while keeping the D-backs hitless in 1 1/3 innings of work.

Both his girlfriend and his family were in attendance to catch his debut, which came in front of an announced crowd of 46,183.

“It was tough just trying to slow the heartbeat, it was pretty loud out there,” Lazar said. “I was just taking it one pitch at a time.”

The 6-foot-2 right-hander has shined with both Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season, posting a combined 1.79 ERA with 53 strikeouts, nine walks and a 0.84 WHIP. He was named Minor League Pitcher of the Month for June after not allowing any earned runs in 11 appearances (12 1/3 innings pitched).

He threw 15 total pitches on Saturday, an even distribution of cutters, curveballs and fastballs, while maxing out at 95.5 mph with his four-seamer. Twelve landed for strikes, inducing 10 swings in the process and he struck out the red-hot Joc Pederson, who has a slash line of .346/.469/.808 with four home runs and eight RBIs this month.

“He filled up the zone,” Stubbs said. “I’m sure having Joc Pederson as your first strikeout is probably a cool one to have on the mantle.”

Philadelphia wraps up its 10-game West Coast swing with a matinee against the D-backs on Sunday, and the game offers an opportunity for the Phillies to finish their trip and their series at a .500 clip.

Whether or not they achieve that depends on players stepping up at the right time.

“At any given time there’s going to be two or three people that aren’t swinging the bat,” Thomson said. “I’ve never seen a lineup that has all nine guys going good, so we just have to make up for it with the other guys.”