PHILADELPHIA -- One of Rockies right-hander Jon Gray’s goals for 2019 was to deal better with frustration. He’s certainly getting regular practice at it.

On Friday night, Gray fanned eight, but gave up five two-out runs and lasted just 4 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

The problem was not always in Gray’s control. Disputable balls and strikes in the third inning and a soft but hurtful hit in the fourth were notable bits of poor luck. There was also one regrettable pitch.

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After a 2018 season in which Gray went 12-9 but finished with a 5.12 ERA and saw some outings spin out of control, Gray’s performance this year has generally showed progress, though it hasn't always translated into results.

“I’m not frustrated at all with how he’s thrown the ball, his delivery, his stuff,” said manager Bud Black, whose team pulled to within one run following Ian Desmond’s two-run homer in the sixth. “He’s competing. He’s playing baseball. The other side’s playing, too.

“Tonight sort of went the other way. There were some pitches that were right on the edge that could’ve changed the whole complexion of the game.”

In the biggest plate appearance of the night, Phillies pitcher Cole Irvin drew a crowd-pleasing 10-pitch walk to set up Andrew McCutchen’s two-run homer that tied the game at 2 in the third. However, strike zone imaging showed that three of the balls could have been called strikes had plate umpire Angel Hernandez seen them the way radar did.

Gray fell behind McCutchen, 3-1, and left a 3-2, 97.2 mph fastball in the middle of the plate that left the bat at 106.8 mph and landed in the left-field seats.

“It was just a momentary thing. I let it go, but it did stick around a little bit longer than it should have,” Gray said of the walk to Irvin. “I probably shouldn’t make any comments about that. But I felt like we competed. We had to compete all night long.”

In the fourth, J.T. Realmuto doubled with two outs and Cesar Hernandez followed with a soft popper that fell just inside the third-base line for another double, plating Realmuto.

“You’ve got to understand what’s really going on, and don’t give the hitter too much credit,” Gray said. “I mean, he put a good swing on it, sure. But those things don’t happen all the time. I’m not going to hang my head on that.”

Gray was pulled in the fifth with two on and two out, with his pitch count at 98, before Bryce Harper’s double off Carlos Estevez gave the Phillies a 5-2 lead.

From the third through the fifth inning, Gray threw 48 pitches with two outs. Even with the poor luck, that has to be improved. He entered the night having yielded a .255 batting average and three home runs with two outs. But like some of his earlier, more-successful outings, when he had a hard time finding consistency with pitch action, Gray -- who has liked his pitches the last two starts -- figures the two-out issue is one he’ll address.

The rotation’s performance mirrors Gray’s. Rockies starters went through a funk that made games difficult to win. Lately, games are close, but consistency is lacking, as the starters’ 5.65 ERA for the season shows.

“We’re going to come out of this better than ever,” Gray said. “It’s going to be fine.”