Cleveland Nips Phillies in 9th Inning, Bullpen Bug-A-Boo Again
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The Phillies spotted an early lead to another team, this time the Cleveland Indians — 3-0 in the first inning only to tie the game with single runs in the 2nd, 4th and 5th innings. Having tied the game, relief failed the Phils as the Indians got 2 in 7th inning. The Phils roared back with 3 in the 8th to take a 6-5 lead only to see the ‘pen fail them again with one out in the 9th as Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo hit a game winning two-run single and the Phillies went down by a 7-6 score.
Non-roster pitcher Mazone started for the Phils and was jumped on immediately in the 1st inning for 3 Indian runs on catcher Victor Martinez’s 3 run homer. Mazone surrendered 3 runs on 5 hits, including Martinez’s shot, and walked 1 while striking out 1 in his 3 innings of work.
In the meantime, Cleveland ace lefthander C.C. Sabathia mainly barred the door on the Phils in his 3 innings of work, only allowing a solo shot by Phils’ slugger Ryan Howard in the 2nd inning. Howard’s opposite-field homer to left-center was the only hit given up by Sabathia who struck out one.
Yahoo’s recap gives more detail on Howard’s homer and Sabathia’s pitching;
“It was a fastball inside and he did a good job of keeping his hands in and getting to it,” Sabathia said. “As soon as I saw the barrel of the bat on it, I knew. It was gone.”
Sabathia worked so efficiently that he went to the bullpen and made 19 more pitches to get his work in. The past two years, Sabathia missed about a month at the start of the season with a strained muscle along his side.
“C.C. continues to throw all his pitches well,” Wedge said.
And while Indians’ manager Eric Wedge complimented Sabathia on his performance, Phils manager Charlie Manuel was less than thrilled with the pitching in this game.
The Yahoo recap reports;
Phillies manager Manuel wasn’t as pleased with his pitchers.
“We did some pretty good things — offensively,” Manuel said. “We’ve got some openings in the bullpen and looking for guys who can get people out. I’m still looking.”
Philadelphia’s Chase Utley had an RBI double in the fourth and Jimmy Rollins a run-scoring single in the fifth — both off Jason Davis. Travis Hafner’s two-run double in the sixth put Cleveland ahead 5-3.
Abraham Nunez tied it in the eighth with a two-run homer off Rafael Perez.
It seems to me that relievers Alfredo Simon and Jim Ed Warden don’t make the cut, they’ve been clobbered thus far this spring. Lefthanded reliever Matt Smith also seems a likely candidate to be cut before the club goes north.
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