PHILADELPHIA -- Nick Castellanos spent a few extra minutes alone on the Phillies’ bench late Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

He stared into the distance. He had thoughts.

“Just losing, man,” Castellanos said following a 10-1 loss to the Cubs. “Losing has me frustrated. I mean, the bottom line is we’re just not playing up to our potential. You know? I think guys, just speaking for the players, we don’t have anywhere to point fingers but at ourselves. We have the pieces. We have the talent. We have all the things that we need, and we’re just not getting it done right now.”

The Phillies have lost five consecutive games to fall to 20-24. It has been the same story lately: the starting pitching gets roughed up early, while the offense and defense stumbles. The only difference between Friday’s loss and the previous four is that this one happened at home, and a restless fan base expressed themselves by booing the 2022 National League champions.

“The way we’ve played, it’s on us,” Bryce Harper said. “I think every guy in this clubhouse is frustrated with the way we’re going about it right now. The mistakes we’re making, we’re not playing the game the right way. When you don’t play mistake-free baseball, you lose ballgames. We just need to be better. You guys have been watching the games. You see what’s going on. A lot of those things can’t happen if you want to be a winning ballclub. Individually, we’ve got to play better, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to start that tomorrow.”

The Phillies have played a little more than a quarter of the season, so there is time to get things going. But it is late enough that the team’s issues cannot be dismissed as a little slump or a slow start.

“We need to get it going,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We really do.”

Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez made his second start of the season on Friday. He allowed five hits, four runs and three walks in two innings. He threw 66 pitches.

It was the third time in four games a Phillies starter pitched two or fewer innings, putting the pitching staff in a bind, especially with Sunday a potential bullpen game. Right-hander Connor Brogdon got two outs Monday in San Francisco. He was an opener for left-hander Bailey Falter, but the Phillies wanted him to get through the first. Right-hander Taijuan Walker pitched two-thirds of an inning Wednesday. It was the first time two Phillies starters pitched less than an inning in the same series since Sept. 7-8, 1964.

Suárez’s performance Friday made this the first time three Phillies starters pitched two or fewer innings in a four-game span since June 30-July 4, 2006: Adam Bernero, in his only appearance with the Phillies (two innings on June 30); Aaron Fultz (1 2/3 innings on July 2) and Cole Hamels (two innings on July 4).

Hamels only pitched two innings, however, because of a lengthy rain delay.

The 2006 team had serious starting pitching problems, ranking 25th in baseball with a 5.08 ERA. They often played over those issues with the National League’s best offense (865 runs) and a middle-of-the-pack defense. They won 85 games.

The 2023 rotation has a 5.06 ERA, which ranks 24th in baseball. But this offense is 22nd in runs per game (4.18) and 22nd in defensive runs saved (-11), according to Statcast.

“I don’t like, 'Oh, it’s still early,'” Harper said. “Every game means something as you play. Urgency should always be there, no matter what position you’re in. If you’re above .500, if you’re below .500, if you’re in first, if you’re in last. There should always be an urgency to be great with what you do. Each guy in here, I know everybody understands that.

“We can’t forget we’re a really good baseball team. We’ve just got to go out there and play our game. That’s not what should have happened tonight, especially on Friday night coming back home. We were trying to set the tone for the series.”