Aaron Nola has an injury scare in Phillies’ 7-5 loss to Blue Jays in extras

Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer have battled over the years.

Saturday night marked the seventh time the two pitchers have faced head-to-head. Scherzer, 42, has been limited this year with Toronto due to injuries, and entered the game with a 7.92 ERA. He’s on a one-year deal; it’s fair to wonder if their seventh meeting could also be their last.

It was fitting in Saturday’s 7-5 extra-innings Phillies loss that they each made history. The game was momentarily paused in the second inning to celebrate the Phillies right-hander after he struck out Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela looking on a sinker.

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Nola’s third strikeout of the game was the 2,000th of his career, making him the 94th pitcher in baseball history to reach the milestone. He accomplished it in his 308th start, the 10th-fastest ever.

“It’s funny I’m pitching against Scherzer,” Nola said. “I’ve got a long way to catch up with him.”

Not to be outdone, Scherzer’s called strikeout of Kyle Schwarber in the sixth inning was his 3,516th career strikeout, which moved him into 10th all-time in MLB history.

“It’s a challenge, for sure. He’s pitched a long time, and he’s still so good,” Nola said of facing Scherzer. “We’ve seen him so much, and it’s so good to watch him go out there. He’s a ultimate competitor, and obviously he’s a Hall of Famer, no doubt.”

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola throws a first inning pitch.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

Nola didn’t leave the game on a high note, however. He was removed in the sixth inning with a bruised right knee after Jesús Sánchez hit him with a 104.8 mph comebacker. X-rays were negative, and he said afterward he felt fine and expects to make his next start.

The Phillies had plenty of opportunities to back Nola’s milestone with a win. But Nathan Lukes’ two-out, two-run homer in the 11th proved to be the fatal blow.

“We just got to find ways to finish it off,” Trea Turner said. “I feel like it’s not always one thing to point at. We can do all things better, but it feels like late in games where we could break it open and put it away, I feel like we’re not doing that. So just keep working and try to figure that part out.”

Nola exited at 97 pitches, and was nearing the end of his outing. He had allowed two runs on six hits and had struck out eight. The Phillies were trailing, 2-0, after failing to provide him any run support.

» READ MORE: Luis Arraez’s biggest strength made him a logical cleanup hitter for Don Mattingly. And it’s worked.

It’s been a struggle for Nola this year. But over his last three starts, he has a 3.24 ERA. Home runs continue to be an issue, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took him deep in the first inning. When Nola can limit the homers to solo shots, though, he gives his team a fighting chance.

But the first two times through the order, the Phillies offense was making Scherzer look like his vintage self. For five innings, he held them off the scoreboard while they mustered just three singles.

“He looked really good tonight,” Turner said. “Velo was there. I felt like his command was really good. He made it tough on us for a while, and then we got to him a little late. But he looked pretty sharp.”

The third time through the order was different. Back-to-back homers from Turner and Bryce Harper, both off sliders, brought the crowd right back into it and abruptly ended Scherzer’s night in the sixth inning. And when Blue Jays reliever Spencer Miles took the mound, hits became contagious.

Luis Arraez singled, advanced to third on a Bryson Stott double, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Marsh, dodging the tag at the plate.

Then, Justin Crawford came inches away from homering into the Phillies’ bullpen in center field. It bounced off the wall instead, and Crawford settled for an RBI triple after flying around the bases to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

In the eighth inning, José Alvarado coughed it up. His command was erratic — at times completely wild — and he had walked two batters but was on the verge of escaping the inning. Free-swinging Andrés Giménez fell behind 0-2 chasing two pitches outside of the zone.

But Alvarado left a sinker right down the middle for Giménez to punch a game-tying two-run double to center.

“Anytime your guys out of the pen walk guys, that makes you uncomfortable, especially late in the game,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Because it usually causes traffic, and the game has a better chance of spiraling on you.”

Mattingly called on Brooks Raley, Jonathan Bowlan, and Jhoan Duran to pitch an inning each in relief. Orion Kerkering took over from Alvarado in the eighth and faced one batter. With the bullpen stretched thin over the past week, that left Chase Shugart for extra innings.

» READ MORE: Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.

With the ghost runner on second, Shugart walked Davis Schneider on five pitches in the 10th inning. He induced a soft grounder from Ernie Clement to first, but a mental lapse from Alec Bohm — who had entered as a defensive replacement for Schwarber when the Phillies were leading — at first base allowed him to reach. Bohm hesitated before tossing the ball to Shugart, and Clement beat out the throw.

“It looked a little bit indecisive,” Mattingly said. “I looked at it quickly, and I would say that’s part of it. Just not playing over there enough.”

Mattingly stood firm postgame in his decision to bring Bohm in at first over Schwarber in the eighth due to his superior infield experience. The Phillies were leading by two, and Mattingly was betting on Schwarber’s spot in the lineup not coming up again. After Toronto tied the game, Bohm flew out in the bottom of the ninth and was on deck during the final out in the 11th.

“You don’t really want it to come up. Trying to win in nine, honestly, trying to make sure the game doesn’t go past nine,” Mattingly said. “So you can always play it safe. Maybe if you don’t make a play over there, then you’re going to kick yourself for not defending. It’s going to go either way.”

Bohm’s play on the grounder from Clement was scored a hit, which loaded the bases for Giménez. He then drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. The Phillies tied it again in the bottom of the 10th on their own sacrifice fly, but couldn’t push across the go-ahead run.

Shugart had Lukes down to two strikes in the 11th before he left a sweeper belt-high for the Toronto right fielder. Lukes sent it 395 feet into the seats.

The Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the inning, sealing the series loss.

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In trading for Luis Arraez at the deadline, the Phillies displaced three-fourths of their infield but left Trea Turner at shortstop. To help make sense of it all, pennant-winning former shortstop and current radio broadcaster Kevin Stocker joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer's baseball podcast. Watch here.

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