PHILADELPHIA – One never knows what unexpected sights, unique delights and unprecedented blights await during a visit to Citizens Bank Park.

Unfortunately for the Phillies and another sellout audience of 44,468, there were more of the latter in Saturday’s ill-fated bout with the Braves.

Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper cart-wheeled into a camera well chasing a first-inning popup and, to the relief of fans and teammates, emerged unscathed after his super-hero effort.

Not-so-speedy Kyle Schwarber fronted a double steal in the bottom of the inning, galloping to and sliding safely into third base to barely beat the throw as Harper hustled to second base behind him.

Braves pitcher Max Fried, unable to locate the strike zone, lasted just two-thirds of an inning, making it the shortest of his 123 career starts.

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But that was about the extent of the good fortune home fans may have enjoyed during an unsightly 12-4 loss to the Braves, who swatted 19 hits including four homers and four doubles.

"It's definitely frustrating," J.T. Realmuto, who homered for the Phillies, said of two lopsided losses to start the season. "But at the end of the day, it's two games and we have 160 left.''

Most disappointing was the showing by Phillies starter Aaron Nola, who lasted longer than Fried but was equally ineffective, working a difficult 4⅓ innings and departing to a mixture of cheers and jeers.

This was Nola’s first outing since signing a seven-year, $172 million free-agent contract last fall, an investment that will have to begin paying off next time.

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Nola allowed more hits – 12 – than he had in any of his previous 235 major league games, all starts.

"They're a good lineup one through nine," Nola, who felt fine physically, said of the Braves. "We know that. They're strong every year and their bottom of the lineup today kinda hurt us. They swung the bat really well. They hit for average, for power, they run and put pressure one me."

The seven runs Nola gave up equaled the second most in his career.

"Quite honestly, I thought he threw the ball OK," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "They didn't hit many balls hard.

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"The [Ozzie] Albies home run, change-up down in the zone, he went down and got it. The home run that [Matt] Olson hit was a towering fly ball. It just seemed like every ball they put in play went for a base hit or a double, and he didn't get a lot of swings and misses. That was the deal."

The Phillies’ bullpen supplied limited adequate relief for the second day in a row. But, unlike when Zack Wheeler delivered a standout start in a 9-3 opening-day setback Friday, Nola’s early troubles put them in a 7-3 hole from which they could not climb back.

Nola was coming off his best spring in the last four years, having gone 2-1 with a 3.79 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 19 Grapefruit League innings. It did not join him for the move north, though his three strikeouts gave him 1,582 for his career, tying Lewes High graduate Chris Short for fourth on the all-time Phillies chart.

The 2014 seventh-overall draft pick out of LSU has pitched too well for too long to have one crummy start at age 30 be viewed as anything but that – one bad outing.

"We didn't get enough swing and misses," Realmuto, the catcher, said. "It felt like they put the bat on the ball a lot and, when they did, when they put the ball in play, it seemed to find a lot of holes. Really not having a put-away pitch necessarily. At two strikes we just didn't really execute enough to put guys away."

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Aaron Nola struggles as Phillies endure second lopsided loss to Braves