Seranthony Domínguez pitched the seventh. He allowed a leadoff walk to Daulton Varsho — feeding him four balls that were nowhere near the strike zone, and one strike — and then struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Domínguez induced a groundout and a fly out to end the inning. He seemed to get a better handle on his control as the outing went on.
Orion Kerkering entered in the eighth, inducing a fly out, but he allowed a walk and two singles to give the Blue Jays an insurance run. Jose Ruiz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
The Phillies tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth, but fell short. Alec Bohm singled, Marsh reached base on a force out, and Castellanos singled to put runners on first and second for Stott with one out. Stott hit an RBI double to score Marsh, but Kody Clemens and Whit Merrifield each popped out to end the game.
Despite the loss of their star shortstop to a left hamstring strain, the Phillies haven’t faced much adversity over the past few weeks. They entered Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 26-11 record and a seven-game winning streak. They’ve gotten out to quick leads — outscoring their opponents by 35 runs in their first two innings of their last 20 games — and have been able to hold them.
Wednesday was different. Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt has historically pitched well against the Phillies, and continued to do so in a 5-3 loss to Toronto, just their second loss in their last 13 games. The right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the third inning, when Johan Rojas singled to center field to load the bases for Kyle Schwarber with no outs.
Schwarber hit a sacrifice fly scoring Bryson Stott, which Bassitt responded to by mowing down the next 11 batters he faced. The Phillies didn’t score another run until the seventh, when Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos reached second and third on a single and a double with one out. Bassitt came out after that, and Stott drove in Marsh with a sacrifice fly against reliever Zach Pop to cut the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-2.
The Phillies were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Their three runs came on just seven hits. It was a stark contrast from the Blue Jays’ lineup, which went 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Starter Aaron Nola held the Blue Jays to one run and five hits in his first five innings, but struggled in the sixth. Nola allowed a single, a force out and a double to put runners on second and third with one out. Bo Bichette and Davis Schneider hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead.
Nola induced a pop out and Matt Strahm entered in relief, allowing a single to Kevin Kiermaier to give the Blue Jays a 4-1 lead.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson pulls Aaron Nola from the game in the sixth inning on Wednesday.
Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
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