» Phillies Lose to Pirates, Another Poor Start for Eaton

Phillies Lose to Pirates, Another Poor Start for Eaton

Adam Eaton gave up single runs in the first, third and fourth innings as the Phillies fell behind and never got back into the game. The bullpen gave up 2 more runs; one each in the seventh and eighth innings in falling to the Pittsburgh Pirates by a 5-1 score.

AP sports writer Rob Maddi suggests in the Yahoo recap that there is more and more talk of Eaton, rather than Jon Lieber, moving to the bullpen if a trade is not made for solid bullpen help.

Maddi reports;

Eaton allowed three runs and eight hits against the Pirates, raising his ERA to 4.63 this spring.

“They haven’t talked to me about being a reliever, so I’m still a starter as far as I know,” he said. “I guess it’s between Jon and I. Things are still going to shake out. I know Pat says he can’t trade anybody, but I don’t think a trade has come up that he wants to do. How about that? I’m sure there’s a lot of interest in any one of our starters. I can’t predict anything.”

In the meantime, Pirates starter Ian Snell pitched 5 sharp, scoreless innings and catcher Ronny Paulino had 2 hits and 2 RBIs. Paulino’s been hot with 16 hits in his last 23 at-bats this spring. Maddi reports on Snell’s performance and Paulino’s hitting;

Snell allowed four hits, struck out five and walked two. He hasn’t allowed a run in his last three appearances, spanning 11 innings.

“The biggest difference for me this spring is I’m mixing up my pitches more and trying to mess with guys’ heads a little more,” Snell said. “Last year, I felt I relied on my fastball a little too much. I’ve changed things up a little bit and have kind of a new look.”

Snell is slated to be Pittsburgh’s No. 2 starter behind Zach Duke. The 25-year-old right-hander was 14-11 with a 4.74 ERA last year.

Paulino drove in runs with a single in the first inning and a double in the third. Don Kelly added an RBI double.

The Phils scored a run on Brennan King’s RBI single in the 8th inning off of Pirate reliever Dan Kolb to avoid a shutout. Manager Charlie Manuel has expressed concern about the slackoff in scoring, although the team has scored a lot of runs this spring.

Maddi reports a few short postscripts on the Pittsburgh game while looking ahead to Tuesday’s game with the Yankees;

The Phillies had two players thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles — Ryan Howard and Abraham Nunez.

Phillies rookie RHP Joe Bisenius, a candidate for one of two open bullpen spots, allowed one run, two hits and walked two in 1 2-3 innings. Cole Hamels will make a start in a Triple-A game for the Phillies while Zack Segovia starts against the Yankees.