Phils' loss likely a bump in road for offense

The Phillies' best moment on Wednesday came before their 6-3 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Tommy Hunter handed Rhys Hoskins the home run ball that he smashed to right field the previous night. It was Hoskins' first home run of the season and it snapped a homerless streak of 124 consecutive plate appearances dating back to Sept. 17. Hunter left the visitors' bullpen Tuesday and scurried into the empty stands to retrieve it. An official MLB authenticator appeared out of nowhere and slapped a hologram sticker on it.

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"I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little bit of relief," Hoskins said following Wednesday afternoon's game. "It's good to get the zero off the board. [Hunter] is like, 'You might hit a couple more here, but you're not going to get the ball back, so keep this one.' It's pretty cool."

The Phillies have been scoring runs in bunches lately, but Wednesday was not one of those days. The loss snapped Philadelphia's four-game winning streak as it continues to look for its first five-game winning streak since July 31-Aug. 5, 2018.

The Phils are the only team in the Majors not to have a five-game winning streak since then.

Philadelphia had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the first inning against Red Sox left-hander Kyle Hart. It scored two runs to take a 2-0 lead, but nothing happened after that.

Phillies right-hander Jake Arrieta struggled with his command. He walked two batters in 15 2/3 innings in his first three starts, but the right-hander walked four in 4 1/3 innings against the Red Sox. Arrieta allowed four runs on five hits, while striking out three.

"Really, just collectively not being able to throw my offspeed [pitches] for strikes and was behind in too many counts, and they made me pay for it," Arrieta said.

After Phil Gosselin's single to shallow right field in the first inning scored the Phillies' first run, Philadelphia did not have another hit until pinch-hitter Neil Walker's double to right-center field in the seventh. The Phils had Hoskins on second with one out in the seventh, but Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Phillies were hitting in Fenway's shadows by that point. Harper looked into the visitors' dugout and said he could not see the ball.

Hunter Wendelstedt's strike zone did not help. Pitches off the outside corner to righties were called strikes the entire game, but Gosselin's called third strike to start the eighth was well off the plate. Didi Gregorius followed with a 14-pitch walk, the most pitches in a walk by a Phillies player since Eric Bruntlett's 14-pitch walk in April 2008.

"We weren't able to build on it, that was the problem," Phillies manager Joe Girardi said about the club's two-run first inning. "We made [Hart] work really hard in the first inning and we weren't able to do much after that. To me, that was the issue. He was effectively wild and he made some pitches when he had to. For whatever reason, we just didn't swing it as well today."

The Phillies should be fine. They entered the game averaging 5.72 runs per game, which was the best mark in the Majors. They ranked first in baseball in batting average (.268), third in on-base percentage (.349), second in slugging percentage (.478) and second in OPS (.827).

Even the most potent offenses have bad games.

Hoskins went 0-for-2 with one RBI, two walks and one run scored. He batted .111 (3-for-27) with one double, one RBI and a .533 OPS in his first nine games this season. From Opening Day through Aug. 8, his average exit velocity (86.3 mph) was below his career average (89.6 mph). But Hoskins is batting .290 (9-for-31) with three doubles, one home run, six RBIs and a .947 OPS in his past nine games. He is hitting the ball harder (92.3 mph), based on Statcast's numbers, from Aug. 9 through Tuesday.

Hoskins said he has felt good at the plate the entire season, even if the results have not been there.

"It can be a maddening game sometimes," Hoskins said. "You can do everything right and not get the results you want. It's one of those things, I just have to continue with the consistency in the work and hopefully the results start to show up in the game."