The San Diego Padres hung a 4-3 loss on the Phillies on Monday afternoon, spoiling the Phils’ 13th home opener at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies have lost their last five home openers and are just 3-10 in home openers at CBP.
The Padres used a double, a base hit and a safety squeeze to push across the go-ahead run against Aaron Nola in the seventh inning.
The Phillies are 2-5 on the season.
Starting pitching report
Nola (0-1) went seven innings and gave up six hits. Three of them came in the same inning, the third, and the Padres scored twice. He hung a curveball in the fourth and it got hit for a home run. A one-out double in the seventh became the Padres’ go-ahead run.
Nola struck out nine and did not walk a batter. He is the first Phillies’ pitcher since Cole Hamels on July 19, 2014, to strike out at least nine and not walk a batter. That’s a span of 234 games.
For the season, Nola has 17 strikeouts and no walks in 14 innings. He is the only pitcher in the majors with double-digit strikeouts and no walks.
San Diego right-hander Andrew Cashner gave up seven hits and three runs over five innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Bullpen report
The Phillies’ bullpen pitched two innings of scoreless ball. The ‘pen has not allowed a run in the last three games — 8 1/3 innings.
Kevin Quackenbush picked up the win in relief for San Diego.
Fernando Rodney survived a leadoff single by Maikel Franco in the ninth and picked up the save.
At the plate
The Phils trailed, 3-0, after 3½ innings. Cesar Hernandez tripled and scored on a hit by Odubel Herrera in the fourth and doubles by Cameron Rupp and Peter Bourjos made it a one-run game in the fifth.
The Phils tied the game in bizarre fashion in the sixth. Darin Ruf, pinch-hitting for Ryan Howard against a lefty with the bases loaded and no outs, lifted a pop up to left field. However, Padres leftfielder Wil Myers never saw the ball, forcing the shortstop Alexei Ramirez to sprint into the outfield to try to make a play. The ball dropped in and the runners took off. However, third base umpire Will Little signaled for the infield fly rule. The result of the very questionable call was a double play and a sacrifice fly.
The Padres parlayed three hits and a ground out against Nola into two runs in the third inning. Jon Jay’s RBI double highlighted the inning. The Padres extended the lead to 3-0 on Myers’ solo homer in the fourth.
San Diego broke a 3-3 in the seventh on a one-out safety squeeze bunt by Alexi Amarista. The squeeze came after Phillies third baseman Franco made a diving stop on a hot smash by Ramirez. Franco threw across the diamond for what looked like the second out, but the call was overturned because the throw pulled Ruf off the base.
Up next: The series continues Tuesday night. Charlie Morton (0-1, 14.73) pitches against San Diego lefty Robbie Erlin (1-0, 0.00).
