PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies have 44 games to play following Sunday’s 7-4 loss to the Reds at Citizens Bank Park.

Aaron Nola could start eight of them.

The Phillies pray for a better version of Nola down the stretch. He allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings on Sunday to fall to 7-7 with a 4.48 ERA. He has pitched more than five innings only 13 times in 24 starts this season. He has only nine quality starts (at least six innings and three earned runs or fewer). He has pitched back-to-back quality starts just twice.

• Box score

It is difficult to see the Phillies winning the National League East without Nola rediscovering the form that made him one of the game’s better pitchers the past four seasons.

“I’m going to do everything I can in my will to do that,” he said. “We don’t have too much longer left in the regular season. It’s kind of a sprint now. I believe it will always turn around and we can keep winning. I’ll always believe that.”

Sunday’s loss dropped the Phillies into second place in the National League East, one game behind the Braves. They have lost four of six since their eight-game winning streak ended on Tuesday, although the schedule improves from here. They play 30 of their remaining games against teams with losing records and 20 against teams in last place in their respective divisions.

The Phils open a six-game road trip on Tuesday in Arizona.

“You don’t want to do that, of course,” Bryce Harper said about the team’s 2-4 finish to a nine-game homestand. “You want to win every game possible to stay up there, but we have a long way to go.

“You know the Braves are going to keep going, they’re going to keep playing well. That’s the Braves. That’s their team. Same with the Mets. They’re going to keep playing well. We have to do the same. We have to keep winning games and doing our thing. It doesn't matter what the other teams do. We have to keep winning games. If we don’t win, it doesn't matter.”

Nola found himself in trouble throughout the afternoon. He allowed a home run to Jonathan India to start the game to put the Phillies in a 1-0 hole.

Nick Castellanos struck out looking for the second out in the first. He argued the called third strike -- both teams had serious problems with umpire Sean Barber’s erratic strike zone -- and got ejected. Castellanos’ ejection should have helped Nola, but Shogo Akiyama replaced him and he doubled to score two runs in the third to give Cincinnati a 3-0 lead.

Jesse Winker left the game in the third inning, which should have helped Nola, too. But Aristides Aquino replaced him and he walked in the fifth as Nola loaded the bases.

“He struggled today,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “He gave up the six hits and they were all with two strikes. He struggled putting guys away. I thought he made some pretty good pitches up until that point. But every hit was with two strikes. It's just execution. That's all. Bottom line. Execution.”

The Phillies cut the Reds’ lead to 4-3 in the fifth, but Barber’s strike zone came back to bite the Phillies in the eighth. Phillies right-hander Connor Brogdon should have struck out Tucker Barnhart on a 1-2 changeup to end the inning. The pitch landed inside the zone. But it was called a ball. Barnhart then doubled to score a run and the next batter hit a two-run homer to make it 7-3.

“That’s a big miss,” Girardi said. “That’s a big miss.”

But again, both teams dealt with it. In the end, the Reds outplayed the Phillies. Nola put them behind early.

Nola’s next start could be Friday or Saturday against the Padres at Petco Park. San Diego is one of the league’s better teams in arguably the game’s best division with the Giants and Dodgers. Nola needs to come through.

“Well, obviously, he's real important to us,” Girardi said. “But so are the other four starters too. It just doesn't fall on him. It falls on the whole team and all the coaches and everyone involved -- the manager, the trainers -- to get this done. Keeping people healthy. All that.”

“We’re not worried,” Harper said. “He’s Aaron Nola for a reason. He’s one of our guys. He’s going to be out there every single day and dominating every day the best he can. He works hard. He works his butt off each day. He’s working hard, so that’s all you can ask.”