Aaron Nola pitches well but regrets one mistake

Aaron Nola has thrown 14 innings without walking a batter. But the Phillies have yet to win a game started by their 22-year-old righthander, and Nola was left with a bad feeling about one curveball he threw to Wil Myers.

"It hung," Nola said. "It just hung. He put a good swing on it."

Nola allowed four runs in seven innings of Monday's 4-3 loss to San Diego. He had nine strikeouts. Nola was hurt, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said, by his secondary stuff. The curveball to Myers, inside but high, "wasn't a good pitch," Mackanin said. Myers homered to left-center in the fourth.

"From the start of the season, we're in every game we've played except for one," Mackanin said. "I'm pretty pleased with that at this point."

Nola, the youngest Phillies pitcher to start in the home opener since Robin Roberts did so at 22 in 1949 against Brooklyn, said he enjoyed the vibe at Citizens Bank Park. He had never pitched in front of a larger crowd than Monday's.

He needed two minutes to record the first three outs. He threw just 21 pitches in the first two innings. But, in the third, he was erratic.

"I was excited," Nola said. "I had some adrenaline going."

Nola was the first Phillies starter since Cole Hamels on July 19, 2014, to strike out nine or more batters without allowing a walk. . . . The Phillies fell to 3-10 in home openers at Citizens Bank Park. They have lost each of their last five openers in South Philadelphia, with the last win coming on a John Mayberry Jr. walk-off single in 2011. . . . Charlie Morton, shelled in his first start, will make his home debut Tuesday against Padres lefty Robbie Erlin.