Another Lead Lost as Phillies Drop Finale to Pirates
|
|
|
|
|
Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins led off the game with homer to rightfield. Kyle Lohse pitched 6 innings of 3 hit, shutout ball against the Pirates and the newly acquired Russell Branyan, playing 3rd base, lit up Bucs’ starter Ian Snell for a none out, 3 run homer in the 6th as the Phillies led 4-0 going into the Pittsburgh 7th inning. It was Branyon’s 2nd home in 5 plate appearances since coming to the Phils.
But the Phils’ offense returned to missed opportunities and not coming through in the clutch. Manager Charlie Manuel contributed to the loss by falling asleep at the wheel, just as with Chase Utley’s homer called foul last season with the wild-card on the line, leaving Lohse in the game two hitters too many in the 7th inning. He failed to replace Lohse with a credible reliever in a bases loaded, 2 out spot to get side out and hold the lead. The result, a 7 run Pittsburgh 7th inning, before the rains came, and an 8-4 Phillies loss in the finale of a series which by all rights, the Phils should have swept but for the failure to hold a lead in game 2 as well.
With the loss, the 2nd place Phillies have dug themselves a hole, dropping 5 games behind the NL East leading Mets who won and dropped to a 1/2 game lead on the 3rd place Braves who also won. They also dropped to a game behind the NL Wild Card leading San Diego Padres who won a tight one over the Houston Astros by a 5-3 score. The Phils return home with no momentum carrying them, a slumbering offense and sorely in need of consistent bullpen arms to get to Brett Myers time. Not a good way to enter the next crucial 10 games which may tell the story for the 2007 season.
There were 3 rain-delays during this game which lasted a total of nearly 5 hours. The first delay lasted 44 minutes after which Jimmy Rollins led off against Snell with a homer, his 22nd of the season and his 6th lead-off homer. The other two delays of 63 and 24 minutes each occurred during the Pirates’ 8th inning, after they did their dirty work, 7 runs in the 7th.
After Rollins homered, Lohse took control of the game for 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 6. At one stretch between the 3rd and 5th innings, he retired 8 straight Bucs. But in the 5th, after getting the first 2 outs, Lohse ran into trouble loading the bases before striking out his pitching opponent Snell to retire the side.
In the meantime, the Phillies had Snell in hot water in each of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings but he always seemed to get big strikeouts or ground outs to elude the jams.
In the 6th inning, centerfielder Aaron Rowand was hit by a pitch and advanced to 2nd base on rightfielder Greg Dobbs’ single to centerfield before Branyon tied off on Snell. 4-0 Phillies as the next 3 hitters were retired to end the inning. Dobbs went 3 for 4 for the game.
AP Sports Writer Alan Robinson recaps the Pirates’ 7 run 7th inning and both Manuel’s and Lohse’ reactions to it for Yahoo sports;
Manuel was calm while talking with reporters, but was clearly troubled by losing two such similar games in less than 24 hours.
“Yeah, I’m angry. I’m very concerned — what the hell, I want to win probably more than anybody,” Manuel said.
The Pirates’ newfound comeback ability is the byproduct of an offense that has slumped much of the season — they have scored 121 fewer runs than Philadelphia — but leads the majors with 129 runs in August.
Lohse carried a streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings against the Pirates this season into the seventh, only to fall apart after they loaded the bases on singles by Xavier Nady and Jose Bautista and Josh Phelps’ walk. [Matt] Kata, a utilityman who had only four RBIs in 30 games, made it 4-3 with a bases-clearing double to center that chased Lohse.
“He got behind 2-0, he doesn’t want to fall behind 3-0 so I got a fastball and I put a good swing on it,” said Kata, a one-time Phillies bench player. “Right there, you’re just trying to hit it hard somewhere.”
Nate McLouth tied it with a double off reliever J.C. Romero (0-1) and Antonio Alfonseca came in to walk Jack Wilson. [Freddy] Sanchez’s double down the left-field line made it 5-4 before Adam LaRoche was intentionally walked. Nady finished off the rally with a two-run single, his second hit of the inning and fourth in two games after being out of the lineup for 2 1/2 weeks with a sore hamstring.
“We were going pretty smooth there for six innings, hit a snag and it kind of snowballed,” said Lohse, who had permitted Pittsburgh only one earned run in 24 2-3 innings in his career until the seventh.
After the two 8th inning rain delays, the Pirates capped their scoring with a run off of reliever Yoel Hernandez, called up to replace Mike Zagurski who was placed on the 15 day DL on Sunday with a strained right hamstring.
Snell pitched 7 innings giving up 4 runs on 8 hits while walking 3 and striking out 10. Many of those strikeouts were Phillie threat-killers. Relievers Salomon Torres and closer Matt Capps pitched the 8th and 9th innings respectively and retiring the final 6 Phillies in order.
For the boxscores and recaps on this and all of Sunday’s games, click here.
The Phillies have Monday off to regroup before returning home to Citzens Bank Stadium on Tuesday to open an 10 all-important game homestand. It’s do-or-die time as the Phils host the Los Angeles Dodgers for 3 games beginning Tuesday, followed by 3 games with the San Diego Padres next weekend, followed by a climatic 4 game confrontation with the NL East leading New York Mets.
In Tuesday’s opener with the Dodgers, rookie Kyle Kendrick is opposed by Brett Tomko whose seasonal record is 2-10.
For the scores, boxscores on all of Monday’s games, click here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |