PHILADELPHIA -- If it seems like the Phillies’ Big Three are pitching for perfection lately, they are.

Zach Eflin is the latest to fall victim to a lack of run support.

• Box score

Eflin allowed two runs on six hits in six innings in a 3-1 loss to the Marlins on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies did not score a run for him until the bottom of the sixth when Andrew McCutchen hit the 250th home run of his career.

Eflin followed Zack Wheeler, who allowed one unearned run in seven innings on Tuesday, only to have the Phillies score one run while he was in the game. Aaron Nola pitched 6 2/3 innings on Saturday against the Blue Jays. Philadelphia did not score in a shutout loss.

The Phillies are 14-13 when Wheeler (3-2, 2.52 ERA), Nola (3-3, 3.64 ERA) and Eflin (2-3, 3.77 ERA) pitch this season. They are 8-8 when Vince Velasquez (1-0, 3.68 ERA), Chase Anderson (2-4, 6.96 ERA) and Matt Moore (0-1, 7.16 ERA) start.

The Phils' record needs to be much better than that when their stars pitch.

Phillies starters entered the game 20th in baseball in run-support average (4.33). Wheeler ranked 60th out of 70 qualified starters (3.26). Nola was 45th (4.14).

Eflin actually fared well until Wednesday. He ranked 17th (5.79).

"I think they’ve pitched well enough to win,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “We had a chance to win tonight. We did. We needed a couple hits.”

The Phillies were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday. They stranded five runners on base. Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers dominated through 7 2/3 innings, but Philadelphia had chances to win. The Phils had runners on first and second with no outs in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Brad Miller grounded into a double play and McCutchen lined out to end the threat. Andrew Knapp just missed a walk-off three-run homer in the ninth. He hit a ball 101.4 mph, but he got underneath it, and it fell just a couple feet short of the right-field wall.

“I thought Knappy’s ball had a chance,” Girardi said. “I wasn’t sure. It was a game of inches tonight. It comes down to a couple plays here or there.”

The Phillies hope that everything eventually evens out. It would help to have a healthy lineup. They played Wednesday without J.T. Realmuto, who missed his third consecutive game because of a bone bruise on his left hand, and Didi Gregorius, who is on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his right elbow.

In the meantime, Eflin will continue to focus on the next pitch he throws and not worry about the rest.

It is the only thing he can control.

Eflin has done a fine job of that. He made a point in Spring Training to say that he wanted to establish himself as a starter who consistently pitches deep in games. He has pitched six or more innings in each of his nine starts.

“I’m kind of getting sick of going six innings now that I’m kind of doing it every single time,” Eflin said. “I’d love to go deeper into games. But that comes with consistency and being able to command the ball late in the game. That’s not necessarily something I did today. Knapp and I were pretty much on the same page pretty much the whole time, and I kind of threw up a couple noncompetitive pitches, which is pretty unacceptable and inexcusable. But that’s my goal every single time: at least six. Now I want at least seven. I want to go as deep as I can because it’s better for everybody.”

It will be even better if the Phillies provide Eflin, Wheeler and Nola a few more early runs, too.