PHILADELPHIA -- Vince Velasquez was a late scratch for the Philadelphia Phillies in Thursday's 6-0 loss to the Miami Marlins because of a numb index finger on his right hand.
The injury forced Philadelphia into a bullpen game. The first three pitchers all gave up runs, including last minute starter David Hale, as the Phillies lost for the fourth time in five games. They fell back to .500 (22-22) .
Velasquez (1-0, 3.68) allowed one run in each of his last three starts, pitching at least 5 1/3 innings in each of those.
He returned to the dugout about 30 minutes before the scheduled 7:05 p.m. start and Hale immediately started warming up in the bullpen.
Velasquez left a start in 2017 and his season soon ended because of an issue with the right middle index finger.
"It's very shocking. It's normally the middle finger but now it's the index finger," Velasquez said. "We have some questions now. Why is this happening?''
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
