Nicked off: Padres 6, Phillies 4

In the first leg of Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Philadelphia Phillies (50-36) failed to climb out of a large hole dug by the San Diego Padres (46-39) en route to a 6-4 loss.

Mick Abel’s command of the strike zone was absent as he allowed five walks to the 12 batters he faced, four of which came along with a single and a bases-clearing double in the second inning.

Max Lazar came on to get the final out of the second inning and pitched a scoreless third before conceding two pairs of walks and singles in the fourth.

Our old friend, Nick Pivetta, kept the offense off balance during his six innings of work, though they had a man reach base via a single with one or fewer outs in each of the first…