CINCINNATI _ They're all must-win games now for the Phillies. With 3 { weeks left in the season and a three-game deficit in the chase for a wild-card spot, there's no margin for error. Not anymore.
But whenever Aaron Nola starts, well, what's more urgent than must-win? Let's just say victories are imperative.
So, when Nola allows five runs and doesn't reach the fifth inning _ outcomes that hadn't occurred since the middle of June until they reared their heads Wednesday night _ it somehow feels more damaging to the Phillies' playoff chances than when any of the other four starters throws a dud. It feels downright crippling, actually.
Nola put the Phillies in a five-run hole here at Great American Ball Park, and despite a valiant comeback to tie the game in the seventh inning, the bullpen gave up two late home runs in an 8-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The Phillies slid three games behind the idle Chicago Cubs for the second wild-card berth in the National League.
The Cubs are on pace for 88 wins. For the Phillies to match that total, they must finish 16-8 in their final 24 games. Nola is scheduled to start five of those. If they go 5-0 in those starts, they would still have to go 11-8 in games started by other pitchers.
Is it any wonder that the Phillies continue to discuss calling up 23-year-old top prospect Spencer Howard for a late push? Howard strengthened his case Wednesday night with double-A Reading by holding Trenton to one run on two hits and two walks with 12 strikeouts in seven innings in an Eastern League playoff game.
Adding injury to the insult of having their modest three-game winning streak snapped by a shorthanded Reds team, the Phillies lost left fielder Corey Dickerson in the fifth inning to a sore left foot. Dickerson has been among the team's hottest hitters, going 20-for-55 (.364) in his last 13 games. He was expected to be reevaluated after the game.
Jose Iglesias snapped a 5-5 tie with a solo homer off reliever Jose Alvarez in the seventh inning. Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen added a two-run shot against Blake Parker in the eighth to stretch the margin to three runs.
It was evident almost immediately that Nola lacked his best stuff. His seventh pitch, a fastball over the heart of the plate, got smacked for a solo homer by Joey Votto. His 30th pitch, a curveball without enough bite, got hit for a triple off the center-field wall by Brian O'Grady, an Archbishop Wood product.
Nola gave up a total of seven runs in his previous four starts combined. Facing a Reds team that was missing slugging third baseman Eugenio Suarez (bruised hand) and rookie center fielder Nick Senzel, a late scratch with a sore right shoulder, Nola allowed four runs in the second inning alone and dropped the Phillies down a 5-0 hole.
The big deficit prompted manager Gabe Kapler to lift Nola for a pinch-hitter in the top of the fifth inning. It marked the first time since June 15 that Nola didn't complete at least five innings in a start. But Logan Morrison validated Kapler's decision by clocking a two-run homer.
Two batters later, after Dickerson singled and left the game, J.T. Realmuto slugged a two-run homer to draw the Phillies within 5-4.
And rookie left-hander Cole Irvin, of all pitchers, kept it there. Pressed into his first action since getting called up as part of the Phillies' expanded roster, Irvin retired Votto, rookie sensation Aristides Aquino, and Tucker Barnhart _ the Reds' No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters _ on a total of five pitches in the bottom of the fifth.
Jay Bruce, who spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Reds, tied the game with a pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning. It was his 137th career homer at Great American Ball Park, second only to Votto (152). It also marked the first time in 61 years _ since Rip Repulski and Bob Bowman on Aug. 13, 1958 against the Pirates _ that the Phillies hit two pinch homers in a game.
