PHILADELPHIA _ While the sabermetrics community scoffs at wins for pitchers, it is still a measure to gauge success.
Nobody knows that more than Phillies right-hander Jerad Eickhoff, whose win total this season isn't misleading.
That total still stands at zero.
Eickhoff pitched well enough for a long-awaited W, but settled for a no-decision after Saturday's 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks before 21,108 at Citizens Bank Park.
With just a 22-45 record the Phillies are looking for any positive signs, and Eickhoff's performance, even though he needed 105 pitches to navigate six innings, was encouraging.
A brief rain storm delayed the game 50 minutes, but it didn't alter Eickhoff's focus. He allowed one run on five hits over six innings, with three walks and two strikeouts. It was far from dominating but still effective against a potent Diamondbacks lineup.
This was Eickhoff's 14th start of the season. He is 0-7 with a 4.81 ERA.
Only one Phillies pitcher went as many as 14 consecutive starts without a victory at any point during the season over the last 45 years, according to Elias. In 1997, Matt Beech, who didn't make his first start until May, went 15 straight winless starts before tossing seven shutout innings in Colorado in a 7-1 victory over the Rockies on Aug. 12.
Eickhoff's last win came on Sept. 21, 2016, in an 8-3 triumph over the Chicago White Sox.
An RBI single up the middle by Arizona third baseman Jake Lamb in the third inning opened the scoring.
In the fourth, right-hander Zack Godley got out of a bases-loaded jam by getting Freddy Galvis to ground out to short to end the inning.
Eickhoff got out of a jam in the sixth inning when left fielder Aaron Altherr threw Lamb out at home for a double play on Chris Ianetta's flyout.
The Phillies enabled Eickhoff to avoid earning a loss by tying the score in the sixth. After Maikel Franco drew a one-out walk, he advanced to third on Michael Saunders double and scored on Andrew Knapp's sacrifice fly to center field. At that point, Godley, who had a career-high eight strikeouts, was lifted for left-hander Jorge De La Rosa.
Freddy Galvis walked, putting runners at the corners. Daniel Nava, pinch hitting for Eickhoff, hit a sharp low liner to third base that was snared by Lamb for the third out.
Phillies right-hander Edubray Ramos got in immediate trouble when he came in relief of Eickhoff to start the seventh. Light-hitting Rey Fuentes opened with a single. De La Rosa, then attempting to sacrifice, got more than he bargained for. His bunt in front of the plate was fielded by Knapp, who elected to throw to second, where Fuentes was safe, putting runners on first and second.
Daniel Descalso's RBI single to right also drove Ramos out of the game in favor of Casey Fien, who, after striking out David Peralta, issued a two-run double to four-time All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Arizona would add an RBI single in the four-run inning by Brandon Drury.
In the bottom of the inning, Tommy Joseph hit a two-out single to right, extending his hitting streak to 13 games. The inning ended when Goldschmidt made a nice catch of a Saunders line drive with the bases loaded.
