BOSTON _ Tuesday night presented the sort of opportunity the Red Sox can ill afford to decline.
The Rays were beaten at home by the Mariners. Boston had a chance to gain yet another game in the American League wild-card race by taking care of its own business against the Phillies.
That didn't happen at Fenway Park in front of a sellout crowd. The Red Sox trailed by three runs before coming to bat for the first time and ultimately fell, 3-2, to Philadelphia.
Scott Kingery's RBI single to left in the top of the first inning spoiled a perfect summer night rather early. The Phillies handed a 3-0 lead to Aaron Nola and never lost it, as the National League Cy Young Award candidate from a season ago was just about at his best.
Two dreadful baserunning mistakes by Boston sealed this one in the bottom of the ninth. Xander Bogaerts blasted a leadoff double to left-center but was cut down attempting to take third base on a J.D. Martinez grounder to shortstop. Martinez's pinch runner, Chris Owings, was doubled off first base on an infield liner by Andrew Benintendi that ultimately finished the Red Sox off.
Boston didn't figure to have too many chances against Nola, and a pair of squanders in the middle innings proved damaging. The Red Sox had the leadoff man at second base with nobody out on a pair of occasions and moved him to third only once. Christian Vazquez doubled to left-center opening the fifth and stayed 90 feet away when Jackie Bradley Jr. bounced to first base.
Bradley was the only source of Boston offense to that point. Mitch Moreland's leadoff single in the third was the first Red Sox hit and Bradley put Boston on the board by slamming a two-run homer to the home bullpen in right-center. Bradley's 402-foot rocket came on a first-pitch fastball and made it a one-run game.
Nola was in command otherwise, entering with a 2.09 earned-run average over his last 11 starts and allowing one earned run or less in eight of them. He's been particularly stingy over his last 10 interleague outings, posting a quality start in nine of them dating back to 2017. Nola finished seven innings while allowing just four hits, issuing a lone walk and striking out seven.
The Red Sox found themselves in a 3-0 hole after just six batters. Johnson issued a rather ominous leadoff walk to Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper slashed a one-out double to the corner in left. Jean Segura's two-run double off the Green Monster in left center and Kingery's RBI single through the left side gave the Phillies their cushion.
Johnson finished 3 2/3 innings before giving way to Marcus Walden _ three more outs than the left-hander recorded in his Wednesday start at Cleveland. Boston's latest attempt at going bullpenning was a success, as five different relievers combined to retire 15 straight Philadelphia hitters into the top of the ninth. Matt Barnes escaped a two-out jam when Hoskins popped to Bogaerts in shallow center, stranding a potential insurance run at second base.
