Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker hit hard by Marlins to snap Phillies' win streak at six

MIAMI — Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.

With Aaron Nola lacking his best stuff and the Phillies generating little offense through seven innings save for a pair of Garrett Stubbs bunt singles, maybe manager Rob Thomson’s choice to use Taijuan Walker with only a three-run deficit Saturday would’ve been inconsequential.

But the Phillies did hang 16 runs and 22 hits on the last-place Marlins one night earlier, and it hasn’t taken much lately for the bats to awaken. Under those circumstances, bringing in the No. 5 starter-turned-mopup man felt, well, white flag-ish.

Sure enough, Walker served up three runs (two earned) in the seventh inning to drop the Phillies down a seven-run hole in what turned out to be a 9-5 loss before 23,189 paying customers in South Florida.

You can’t win 'em all, to be sure. But in busting a six-game winning steak — and freezing the magic number to clinch the NL East at 14, pending the outcome of the Braves’ night game at home against the Blue Jays — was Walker the best option in a game that might’ve been winnable?

It didn’t help that Nola lasted only 4 2/3 innings. José Ruiz and lefty Tanner Banks, frequent options for Thomson when the Phillies are trailing, were the first two relievers out of the bullpen. And Thomson wasn’t about to use Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman or closer Carlos Estévez when the Phillies were down 6-3 in the seventh inning.

José Alvarado may not have been available after throwing 17 pitches in Friday night’s 16-2 blowout. But that still left Orion Kerkering and rookie Max Lazar, who has given up three runs in his last two outings after seven scoreless appearances to begin his major league career.

Instead, it was Walker, removed from the starting rotation last week with a 6.50 ERA. In his first relief appearance earlier this week in Toronto, he entered in the fourth inning with the Phillies trailing by two runs and gave up two runs in three innings of an eventual 10-9 victory. His ERA entering the game: 6.48.

Walker allowed a solo homer to Otto Lopez, then walked Griffin Conine. Nick Fortes doubled before Conine scored on a fielder’s choice and Fortes came home on a throwing error by shortstop Trea Turner.

Ballgame.

The Phillies missed a chance to move to 30 games over .500 for the first time since 2011. They’ll likely have others in the final three weeks of the season.

It was evident almost immediately that Nola wasn’t as crisp as usual.

After being staked to a 1-0 lead on Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff double and a two-out RBI single from Nick Castellanos, Nola left a sinker over the plate that Connor Norby banged for a go-ahead two-run homer.

Nola might’ve gotten out of the third inning without allowing a run. But he issued a two-out walk to Jesús Sánchez, who stole second and scored when third baseman Kody Clemens bounced a throw to first base.

The Marlins scored another two-out run in the fourth inning on Norby’s RBI single, then chased Nola in the fifth after Jonah Bride’s ambush of a first-pitch fastball for a leadoff homer and a two-out single by Conine.

Nola threw 101 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, his shortest start since June 13 in Boston.