Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies were hoping that they could take their second consecutive game from the San Diego Padres, in efforts to get back on track and gain some ground in the Wild Card standings. Aaron Nola was on the mound for the Phillies. He too, was hoping to get back on track after an up and down season. The game started with Odubel Herrera hitting a home run in the top of the first inning to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

Aaron Nola was perfect. On the night, he struck out 11 Padres’ batters, including his own brother on three pitches. He carried a perfect game bid into the seventh inning. Of course, social media, got a huge kick out of the fact that before the seventh inning, the Phillies broadcast team cut back to the studio and Taryn Hatcher broke the number one unwritten rule of baseball by talking about Nola’s perfect game bid, but that was hardly her fault.

One batter later, an easy ground ball to first place kicked off Brad Millers glove. The Perfect Game was over. Two batters later, the no-hitter was now gone. The Padres scored a run and boom, the shutout was gone. Nola kept things moving for the Phillies, who were able to add two more runs to the scoreboard in the eighth inning thanks to both Didi Gregorius and Brad Miller getting hit by pitches.

Nola came back out in the ninth inning looking to close out the game. Unfortunately, Nola screwed up and threw his 117th pitch essentially straight down the middle of the plate and Jake Cronenworth hit a two run home run to centerfield to tie the ball game.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Adam Frazier scored on a wild pitch from Connor Brogdon, and the Padres somehow won the game 4-3.

The Phillies are now five games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East and they are five games behind the Padres in the National League Wildcard. Last night was one of many frustrating examples of why the Phillies have been playing .500 baseball all season. They simply can’t win games that they are supposed to win.

No, last night was not Nola’s fault. He did everything he was supposed to do on the mound for the Phillies. If you’re looking to be frustrated, look no further than the Phillies lineup, who failed to score a run with a hit outside of Herrera’s leadoff home run. The other two came on hit batters. You are not going to win many games with that type of offensive production.

I am hesitant to say that last night’s loss is the nail in the coffin for the Phillies, but it certainly didn’t give a team that has been struggling as of late much confidence heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY