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Vince Velasquez leaves 10-0 Phillies loss with middle-finger injury

The righthander exited his start against the Mets after one inning. His fastball velocity was down.

Vince Velasquez gave up a first-inning homer before leaving the game.
Vince Velasquez gave up a first-inning homer before leaving the game.Read moreYONG KIM / File Photo

Vince Velasquez's night lasted 32 pitches, and he struggled to explain after a 10-0 Phillies loss to New York why that was. His right middle finger hurt Thursday. That much he could tell.

"It was just a weird feeling," Velasquez said. "It's kind of like one of those blisters where you just automatically get it. Somehow, someway it just appears."

So it's a blister?

"No," he said. "It's just bruising."

Was he hit by something that caused the bruising?

"No," Velasquez said. "I don't even know how it occurred. Again, how does a blister occur? I mean, I'm just throwing a ball all the time. But at this point, again, it's just a bruising. I can't say exactly what it is because we don't even know."

The Phillies said Velasquez suffered "numbness" in his finger. Manager Pete Mackanin offered no answers for the cause. Velasquez could not say if he will make his next start. He has a 5.13 ERA this season, with just 72 innings in 15 starts.

The 25-year-old righthander tends to generate more and more uncertainty with every outing.

Whatever is happening in his finger — some pitchers have blamed tighter seams on the baseballs this season for the rise in blister and finger-related ailments — affected Velasquez. The hardest fastball he threw was 92.4 mph; his average fastball velocity this season was 93.9 mph before Thursday night.

"He's mentioned it before," Mackanin said, "but he felt like he could go out there."

A shift to the bullpen has long been speculated for Velasquez's future. But, right now, the Phillies just want a healthy pitcher. They have not yet received that.

Velasquez missed time last season with a strained right biceps. He was absent for almost six weeks earlier this season with a strained tendon in his right elbow. It's all but guaranteed that Velasquez pitches fewer innings in 2017 than he did in 2016, which is an indicator of stalled development.

"I've been very injury prone so it's tough," Velasquez said. "You don't want to be labeled as that person. Again, it's just my fault I guess as far as not taking care of myself. But this is one of those things I can't control. It's a simple bruising that's really affected me "

The game stayed close for a while because Mark Leiter Jr. again contributed dominant relief work. Leiter struck out seven and walked none in five innings. He surrendered a solo homer to Neil Walker. Leiter could slide into Velasquez's rotation spot if he is to miss time; the rookie has allowed that one run with 16 strikeouts and no walks in his last two appearances — a total of 9 1/3 innings. Leiter has a 4.08 ERA this season.

Another rookie, Jesen Therrien, replaced Leiter in the seventh inning. Michael Conforto jumped a hanging slider and dinged the foul pole for a three-run homer. That was the finishing blow.