Phillies Slide Hits 3 Straight With Loss in Atlanta Opener
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Perhaps it was the rush of two straight day games with the trip from Florida to Atlanta sandwiched in between.
Perhaps it was the lack of time to put Monday’s blown 5-0 lead behind them. Perhaps, it was both and more.
But whatever it was, the Phillies’ bats went totally silent outside of a 3 for 4 game by All Star 2nd baseman Chase Utley and they continued shuttling and shuffling relief pitchers in search of a consistent, effective tandem for the stretch drive as they lost their 3rd straight, this one to the Braves by a 5-1 score in their series opener.
In dropping the series opener to the Braves, the Phillies, who had cut the Mets’ NL East lead to 2 games, fell back to 5 games behind the NL East leaders who defeated the Cincinnati Reds by a 10-4 score marking Pedro Martinez’s belated return after over a year down after surgery.
The Phils remained to 3 games behind NL wild card leading Arizona who had the day off.
First baseman Ryan Howard and centerfielder Aaron Rowand couldn’t make contact. Between them, they were 0-for-7 with five strikeouts. The rest of the lineup, including here-to-fore hot-hitting rightfielder Jayson Werth, fared no better against Atlanta starter and winning pitcher Lance Cormier. Cormier (2-4) went 5 2/3rd innings giving up 1 run on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5. The Braves bullpen completely blanked the Phillies, other than 1 walk, over the last 3 1/3rd innings.
Losing starter lefthander Jamie Moyer, who was pounded for 3 runs in the 4th inning and was chased after giving up a run in the 6th, went 5 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs on 9 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7.
Reliever Tom “nothing left in the tank” Gordon gave up the final Atlanta run in the 7th inning on 2 hits and a walk. Lefthanded reliever Fabio Castro went clean on the Braves in the 8th.
AP Sports Writer Charles Odum recaps the game for Yahoo sports;
Cormier did not allow a home run for the first time in seven starts. He had given up 13 homers in 32 innings before Monday’s start, but he relied on his curveball to hold the Phillies to only four hits — including three to Chase Utley — and one run in 5 2-3 innings.
“I built on it last start, threw it a lot more, and today that was the pitch I went to when I needed it,” Cormier said. “It was a good one today.”
“I feel like I’m where I need to be,” Cormier said. “You’re not always going to have the best outing of your life, but it feels good to get a win today.”
Brian McCann hit a two-run double in a three-run fourth inning as the Braves snapped a three-game losing streak and avoided falling to .500 for the first time since June 24.
The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Utley doubled to right and scored on Pat Burrell’s single to left. Burrell, who hit into a double play in the first inning, was 0-for-12 on the road trip before his RBI single in the fourth.
Philadelphia’s only other serious threat came in the sixth, when Burrell popped out to end the inning with runners on first and third.
“It wasn’t our day,” Utley said. “We didn’t swing the bats very well. … Playing today’s game in warm weather didn’t help. The heat wears on you.”
The Braves scored three runs on three hits off Moyer in the bottom of the fourth. McCann’s bases-loaded double to the right-field wall drove in Mark Teixeira and Jeff Francoeur. Andruw Jones scored on Kelly Johnson’s fly ball to shallow center when Aaron Rowand’s throw to the plate sailed over the head of catcher Carlos Ruiz.
Pinch-hitter Brayan Pena, in his first at-bat since he was recalled from Triple-A Richmond on Saturday, drove in McCann from third with a two-out single up the middle in the sixth. Pena beat shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ throw to first, giving Atlanta a 4-1 lead and knocking Moyer out of the game.
Atlanta added a run off Tom Gordon in the seventh. Gordon walked Matt Diaz and gave up singles to Chipper Jones and Teixeira to load the bases. Diaz scored on Francoeur’s fly ball to deep right.
The Phillies remain in search of starting pitching and bullpen answers and are hoping for ace lefthander Cole Hamels’ speedy return to the rotation. They had better find answers quickly before the season, with its 25 games remaining, gets away from them. The heralded pre-season acquisitions of Adam Eaton and Freddy Garcia have amounted to zero. Only Hamels’ great season, the call up of Kyle Kendrick and the acquisition of J.D. Durbin have kept them in the race until now.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this and all of Monday’s games, click here.
On Tuesday, Kyle Lohse hopes to stop the Phillies skid as he opposes 15 game winner Tim Hudson in game two. Kyle Kendrick goes for his 9th win against Buddy Carlyle in Wednesday’s series finale.
Then the Phillies have the day off on Thursday before heading home to start a 3 game series against the Florida Marlins followed by a 4 game set against the Colorado Rockies.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on all of Tuesday’s games, click here.
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