Dodgers Rout Injury-Plagued Phillies on 12 late-Inning Runs
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For 5 innings, the Phillies and starter J.D. Durbin kept the score close and trailed 3-1.
But the Dodgers blasted losing pitcher Durbin and relievers Jose Mesa and Clay Condrey for 12 runs over the last 4 innings to clobber the injury-stung Phillies by a 15-3 score.
Despite the loss, the 2nd place Phillies remained 5 games behind the NL East leading Mets who lost to the NL Wild Card leading San Diego Padres by a 7-5 score. The Phils stayed a game ahead of the 3rd place Braves who also lost while dropping to game behind the NL Wild Card leading Padres.
Dodger starter Derek Lowe, with his nasty sinker back in the arsenal, retired the first 9 Phillies he faced, got 15 outs on grounders while giving up 3 runs on 6 hits in pitching 7 innings for his second straight winning start. Lowe had previously suffered a two-month winless drought.
The Phillies, still feeling the sting of losing ace Cole Hamels to the 15 day DL, could only manage 3 runs on 6 hits for the game, including catcher Chris Coste’s 2 run fifth inning homer. It was Coste’s 3rd homer of the season. The Dodger bullpen shut the Phils down totally retiring them in order in the 8th and 9th innings.
AP Sports Writer Rob Maaddi recaps some of the Dodgers’ scoring for Yahoo sports;
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the first inning. After [Matt] Kemp reached on third baseman Greg Dobbs’ error with one out to put two runners on, Jeff Kent flied to center for the second out. But [Andre] Ethier followed with a double to score Rafael Furcal. Kemp was thrown out at home on the play.
One pitch after Kent doubled in the fourth, Ethier ripped a liner into the seats in right-center for his 10th homer to make it 3-0.
Los Angeles put it away with a five-run seventh against reliever Jose Mesa. Loney had a two-run single during the inning.
It is a mystery to me, with the score still within reach at 5-1 in the 7th inning, why manager Manuel allowed things to get soo awful by staying with both Mesa and Condrey long enough for them to absorb damage of 5 runs each. It’s got me scratching my nearly bald head in the wake of Manuel’s snooze in the 7th inning of Sunday’s loss at Pittsburgh. Two 7th inning collapses in three games. Sorry to sound like a Manuel detractor, but is this a trend?
For the boxscores and recaps on this and all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
In Thursday’s finale with the Dodgers, newly recalled lefthanded reliever Fabio Castro is slated to make his first career start opposed by Chad Billingsley. Is it possible that the Phils will pull a third pitching rabbit out of the hat following the successes with Kyle Kendrick and Durbin?
Following the Dodgers, the Phils play a 3 game weekend series with the San Diego Padres followed by the much-anticipated 4 game confrontation with the NL East leading New York Mets.
Starting pitchers have been announced for Friday’s series opener with the Padres; Kyle Lohse opposes veteran Greg Maddux.
For the scores, boxscores on all of Thursday’s games, click here.
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