Asher shines in 1-0 Phillies loss

MIAMI - The beginning of Alec Asher's major-league career had not gone as smoothly as it had for rotation mates Aaron Nola, Adam Morgan, and Jerad Eickhoff earlier this summer. When the 23-year-old righthander took the mound Thursday night, the Marlins Park scoreboard flashed a dismal 9.78 ERA under his name.

Over the two hours that followed, though, Asher put forth by far the best of his five big-league starts in the Phillies' 1-0 loss to the Miami Marlins. Seven innings in which he allowed only one run and three hits marked clear progress for the team's second-youngest starter.

The loss means the Phillies must win six of their final nine games - three each against the Washington Nationals, New York Mets, and Marlins - to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1961. If that isn't enough incentive, the Phillies can help officially eliminate the underachieving Nationals this weekend. Any combination of three Mets wins and Nationals losses will clinch the National League East for New York.

"I felt like with each start I've taken, I've built a little bit more confidence," said Asher, who as the game's hard-luck loser fell to 0-5. "That was the main thing coming into this game was I said, 'I'm just going to go back to pitching my game and attack hitters and not give them too much credit.' "

Asher, the least-touted of the five prospects the Phillies acquired from the Texas Rangers in the Cole Hamels trade, will probably be a long shot to make the starting rotation out of spring training next April. But depth is a necessity over a 162-game season, as evidenced by this year, in which 14 pitchers started for the Phillies.

"I want to finish strong. That's the main goal," he said. "I know I've started (0-5), and I don't want to start my career like that. There's nothing I can do about those past games but I can take the two ahead of me [including Thursday's] and finish strong."

The big difference Phillies manager Pete Mackanin observed from Asher's start on Thursday compared with his previous outings was the pitcher's mound presence. He appeared more confident and more "in charge," Mackanin said.

"That's a good first step for him," Mackanin said. "As poor as his numbers are, it shows me a lot that he came out there like he had a purpose. That's what the whole deal is about when you get to the big leagues. Either you fight and you make it or you give up. And obviously he's not giving up. He's going after it."

Asher did not allow the game's lone run until the seventh, when J.T. Realmuto followed a Derek Dietrich single with a run-scoring triple. They were only the Marlins' second and third hits of the game. Brian Bogusevic negated a second run from scoring when he threw out Realmuto at home on a Miguel Rojas fly ball.

The Phillies' offense was shut out by six Marlins pitchers. They mustered only five hits. Asher provided two of them, his first major-league hit coming in the form of a third-inning single and his second a fifth-inning double.

Jarred Cosart, the former Phillies prospect and a key part of the 2011 trade that brought Hunter Pence to Philadelphia, started the game, his third appearance of the season against his former organization.

Cosart did not allow any runs, but lasted only four innings because of a left forearm bruise suffered on a Cody Asche line drive. The 25-year-old righthander, who has a 4.15 ERA over 12 starts of an injury-riddled season, allowed four hits, all singles, walked two, and struck out two.

Excluding Asher and Freddy Galvis, who notched two hits in four at-bats, the rest of the Phillies lineup combined to manage just one hit in 24 at-bats.

"Lately it's been the same thing. [I sound like] a broken record," Mackanin said. "You've got to get hits and score runs to win games."

kaplan@phillynews.com

@jakemkaplan