Nola's second inning struggles doom Phillies

By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Final: Toronto Blue Jays 10, Philadelphia Phillies 4 ❖ Attendance: 6,173

Clearwater, FLA — The Toronto Blue Jays (11-17) absolutely pounded the Philadelphia Phillies (12-16) in today's three and a half hour long contest. Most notably, Phillies starter Aaron Nola had a rough day. After a strong first inning in which he recorded three strikeouts, Nola seemed like a different pitcher in the second inning. He allowed five runs, including homers to Troy Tulowitzki and Melvin Upton Jr. Nola left the game after only an inning and two thirds.

The main contributor on the offensive front was Howie Kendrick, who knocked in three of the Phillies' four runs. The Phils did rack up ten hits, but they were unable to string enough hits together to keep up with the Blue Jays' hot bats. This will have to change if the Phillies want to have any chance of staying out of the basement this season.

WP: Marco Estrada (1-1, 4.76 ERA) ❖ LP: Aaron Nola (0-3, 8.38 ERA)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
TOR	0	5	0	1	2	0	0	2	0	10	16	0
PHI	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	10	1

The Phillies got off to a good start in the bottom of the first. With one out, Freddy Galvis singled to right field. After a strike-out by Odubel Herrera, left fielder Howie Kendrick came to the plate. He hit a ball off the top of the padding in right field for a triple, scoring Galvis and giving the Phils a 1-0 lead. Brock Stassi singled to knock in Kendrick and extend the lead. Daniel Nava flew out for the final out, but it was good to see the Phillies take an early lead.

The Blue Jays struck back in the second inning. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki led off the inning with a homer to right to cut the Phils' lead in half. One out later, Steve Pearce singled up the middle. Melvin Upton Jr. followed with a home-run of his own to left field to give the Jays the lead. A fly-out by Kevin Pillar gave Phillies starter Aaron Nola a chance to get out of the inning. The Blue Jays had other plans. Devon Travis tripled to left and Josh Donaldson followed with a walk to put two more runners on base for the middle of the Jays' lineup. Jose Bautista singled to right to score Travis from third to extend the lead. An infield single by Kendrys Morales loaded the bases and signaled the end of the night for Nola. Phillies reliever Hoby Milner walked in a run, but was then able to get that elusive third out.

The bottom of the third brought more runs for the Phils. Cesar Hernandez led off the inning with a walk and stole second during Galvis's at-bat. He flied out to left for the first out. Herrera singled to put runners on first and third for Kendrick. He doubled to center, scoring both Galvis and Herrera. Kendrick was thrown out at third when he tried to turn the double into a triple for the second out. Stassi was retired to end the inning, but the Phillies had climbed back and decreased the deficit.

The Jays struck again in the fourth. Third baseman Josh Donaldson doubled for his first hit of the spring. He moved up to third on a ground out by Bautista. Morales knocked him in with a single, notching his second RBI of the day with the hit. Tulowitzki struck out for the second out, but then Russell Martin worked out a walk to put runners on first and second. A fly out by Pearce ended the threat and allowed the Phillies to stay in the game.

The Jays tacked on more runs in the fifth. With one out, Pillar doubled to left field. A single by Travis scored him from second, but Travis was thrown out trying to extend the single into a double. Donaldson followed with his second hit of the spring, a homer far beyond the right field wall to give the Jays a 8-4 lead. The last out was recorded by the Phils, but the game was getting further and further out of their grasp.

In the eighth inning, the Jays made things difficult for Phillies reliever Colton Murray. Coming into today's game, Murray hadn't allowed any runs during the spring. It seemed that he would continue that streak until his third inning of work. Jake Elmore led off the inning with a walk, but was picked off on an excellent throw by Phils catcher Andrew Knapp. Designated hitter Christian Lopes singled to center. Murray retired Ryan Goins for the second out to bring Mike Ohlman to the plate. Ohlman homered to left-center field to give the Blue Jays their ninth and tenth runs of the day. Murray was injured during the next at-bat and had to leave the game. The broadcasters said that he was grabbing his left side and lower back. Wander Perez was able to come out of the Phils' bullpen and get the final out of the inning.

The Phillies offense yet again failed to take advantage of opportunities they had, and as a result, didn't score after the third inning. These struggles, combined with the pitching struggles, led to this loss.

Back to Hub

Starting Pitchers

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Marco Estrada	4.0	7	4	4	2	5	0	4.76
Aaron Nola	1.2	7	5	5	1	4	2	8.38

Back to Hub

At the Plate

Blue Jays

Devin Travis: 3-4, R, 2B, 3B, RBI, .538 AVG
Josh Donaldson: 2- 3, 3 R, 2B, HR, RBI, .167 AVG
Melvin Upton Jr: 1-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, .207 AVG

Phillies

Howie Kendrick: 2-3, R, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, .232 AVG
Daniel Nava: 2-3, .385 AVG
Brock Stassi: 1-3, RBI, .321 AVG

Back to Hub

Bullpen

Blue Jays

Ryan Tepera (5th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 1.93 ERA
Aaron Loup (6th): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.68 ERA
John Stilson (7th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
Chris Rowley (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
Murphy Smith (9th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA

Phillies

Hoby Milner (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th): 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 8.71 ERA
Colton Murray (6th, 7th, 8th): 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 1.64 ERA
Wander Perez (8th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
Jeanmar Gomez (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.93 ERA

Back to Hub

What's Next