BOSTON _ The green wall in left field at Fenway Park is 37 feet, 2 inches tall. It is a fine wall, a beloved wall. Rheal Cormier, the former Phillies reliever, once went inside the wall and scribbled on its concrete. "Life is beautiful," he wrote in French.
But Maikel Franco does not like the Green Monster, not after a 4-3 Phillies loss that extended the unbearable weight carried by the worst team in baseball. He hit a ball at 110 mph that smacked the green padding, less than a foot from the top. It was a home run anywhere else. Here, it was an eighth-inning double that could not score Howie Kendrick from first base. The Phillies did not score.
They did not score in the 10th, either, when Franco pelted the wall with another 110-mph liner. Or in the 12th, when Franco smashed the 12th pitch of his at-bat toward the middle of the diamond only for Boston to turn a spectacular 4-6-3 double play. It was the first time the Red Sox retired Franco in eight plate appearances. The embattled third baseman can see the light.
The Phillies? Their anguish is limitless. They are 21 games under .500. They have lost seven straight. This loss, attached to Luis Garcia, was their seventh walk-off defeat in 2017.
It reduced Franco's success to a silver lining. It minimized four scoreless innings from Edubray Ramos and Jeanmar Gomez. It overshadowed what was a gritty night for Ben Lively, a rookie who challenged the potent Red Sox lineup and survived seven innings.
His 108 pitches were the most by a Phillies starter this season.
Lively became the first Phillies pitcher since Bill Champion in 1969 to toss at least seven innings in each of his first three career starts. Champion braved eight seasons in the majors with a 4.69 ERA.
Just five pitchers since 2000 have reached seven innings in each of their first three major-league starts. They were: Cody Anderson (2015), Masahiro Tanaka (2014), Andrew Albers (2013), Zach Duke (2005), and Rich Harden (2003).
Lively has not done it with swing-and-miss stuff. He fanned two Red Sox in his seven innings Tuesday to actually raise his strikeout rate. He has walked more (seven) than he has struck out (five) in his 21 innings. He has permitted a hit per inning.
But his ERA is 3.00. The rise in fastball velocity and premium placed on strikeout pitchers in the modern game has relinquished a contact pitcher like Lively to second-class status. That does not preclude him from enjoying success in the majors. The margin for error is just thinner.
The Phillies like him because, for whatever he lacks in stuff, he compensates with conviction. Lively will not nibble; 67 percent of his pitches in the majors have been strikes.
"He really shows no fear," Mackanin said. "He throws strikes and comes right after the hitters. If you don't throw hard but you locate your fastball in the right spot, you have a chance to be successful. He attacks the hitters. He has that drive. He shows no fear on the mound.
"Now, I'm sure at some point he's going to be tested. How he rebounds is important. But it's not all about velocity. It's about makeup and location and command."
Before Lively arrived, it was clear he had little left to accomplish at triple A, where he had made 28 starts and pitched to a 2.84 ERA. The challenges are mightier in the majors, and it could be that Lively's future resides in a big-league bullpen. For now, he has provided an unexpected steadiness in the rotation.
"I like him," Mackanin said.
But that only dulled the pain endured on another lost night.
