Nationals Nip Phillies on Pitcher’s RBIs
|
|
|
|
|
The Phillies bats fell largely silent other than for rightfielder Jayson Werth’s lead-off homer in the 3rd inning and Washington’s starter Tim Redding beat the Phils with both his pitching and hitting as the Nationals nipped the Phillies in game 2 of their 3 game series by a 4-2 score.
With the loss, the Phillies dropped back to 3rd place in the NL East, 4 games behind the Mets and 1/2 game behind the Braves who both won, and dropped to 3rd place in the NL Wild Card race remaining one game behind the San Diego Padres, who lost, with Atlanta occupying 2nd place.
Both Redding and young Phils’ rookie and losing Kyle Kendrick battled in a fine pitchers’ duel for 5 plus innings.
The AP report recaps the game’s scoring for Yahoo sports;
Dmitri Young led off the second with a single against Kyle Kendrick. Austin Kearns hit into a fielder’s choice and Ryan Church walked. Brian Schneider grounded to [Ryan] Howard at first and his indecision led to Schneider being safe to load the bases.
Nook Logan fouled out, but Redding doubled over third base to score Kearns and Church.
“It was awesome to get it. A blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while,” Redding said. “It was a situation where I was hoping he was going to throw a first-pitch fastball — and I guessed right.”
Redding, whose first start with the Nationals didn’t come until July 3, has a 2.88 ERA despite winning just twice in eight starts.
He retired the first six batters before Werth’s home run [3rd inning], and didn’t run into trouble until the sixth, when he walked Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell before getting Howard to ground out.
Washington added two runs in the sixth. Ryan Zimmerman led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Young. Kearns hit into a double play to score Zimmerman. Church followed with a long home run into the upper deck in right field, his 10th of the season.
Kendrick (5-3) was removed after the home run. He allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Chad Cordero worked a perfect ninth for his 27th save.
In the seventh, Redding walked [Aaron] Rowand and gave up a single to [Wes] Helms before being replaced by Saul Rivera, who promptly walked Werth to load the bases.
Rivera gave up a run-scoring single to Chris Coste before giving way to Ray King, who struck out pinch-hitter Russell Branyan and Rollins. King, who normally comes in to face just one batter was left in to face the switch-hitting Rollins, and savored the opportunity.
“Get in and get out — before they figure you out,” King said.
Luis Ayala threw one pitch and retired Tadahito Iguchi on a fielder’s choice, then worked a scoreless eighth.
The Phillies have been held to but 9 hits and 5 runs in the first two games of this series. But the much-maligned Phillies bullpen has given up but 1 run over it’s last 14 innings of relief work.
For the scores, box scores on this and all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
In Thursday’s series finale, young star lefthander Cole Hamels goes for win #14 against 5 losses (3.64 ERA, 150 SO) opposing rookie Joel Hanrahan who has impressed in his 3 MLB starts and who owns a 2-0 record and 2.76 ERA.
The Phils next head for Pittsburgh opening a 3 game series on Friday night as J.D. Durbin, who replaces Adam Eaton in the starting rotation, faces lefthander Tom Gorzelanny, who seeks win #12 against 6 losses, in the opener.
Eaton, who has right shoulder inflammation, was placed on 15-day disabled list on Wednesday. Rookie left-handed relief pitcher Mike Zagurski was recalled from from Triple-A Ottawa to take Eaton’s place on the roster.
Status on Some of the Injured Phillies
Brian Michael of Phillies Nation updates the status of All Star 2nd baseman Chase Utley;
Chase Utley is slowing recovering from his broken right hand. He visited with doctors yesterday to remove the stitches left over from the operation that inserted a stabilizing pin into his hand. Chase has not been cleared to grip a bat or perform hand exercises, however he will continue to field ground balls and participate in other range-of-motion exercises. Utley will see Dr. Randall Culp again on Aug. 20 and if the doc lets him pick up a bat, he could return to the team within a week. This puts his earliest possible return at August 27, just in time for a four game series against the Mets in Philly.
Here’s hoping that Utley, with his work-ethic, can go full-out, right out of the box. And it’ll be interesting to see how the Phils’ use Tadahito Iguchi upon Utley’s return. The MLB report indicates that manager Charlie Manuel is leaning toward adding Iguchi to the “platoon” at 3rd base which is getting awfully crowed; Helms, Abraham Nunez, Gregg Dobbs, and newly acquired
Russell Branyan. Hmm, have I forgotten anyone?
Rightfielder Shane Victorino is in the midst of a rehab assignment. Yahoo sports reports on Victorino;
Victorino (calf) suffered a setback Tuesday night with Double-A Reading.
Victorino, felt a grabbing sensation in the calf when he bounced a ball in front of the plate and tried to beat the throw to first. There’s no new timetable on when he could be back in action, but it seems he won’t be back with the Phillies before the weekend.
For the scores, boxscores on all of Thursday’s games, click here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |