Phillies Fall Back to Tie With Mets as Nationals Win
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Washington Nationals’ rookie lefthander Matt Chico held the Phillies’ slumbering offense at bay while the Nationals registered single runs in the 1st and 4th innings off of losing pitcher Adam Eaton and charged to Geoff Geary and two more runs in the 7th inning off of Kyle Lohse on 2 Phillie errors as the Nationals finished on top by a 4-2 score.
With the loss, the Phillies dropped back to a first place tie with the Mets who bludgeoned the Florida Marlins by a 13-0 score on 19 hits as John Maine pitched 7 2/3 innings of no-hit ball enroute to win number 15. The Mets bullpen finished off the Marlins who collected 1 ht off of Maine and committed 3 errors. Marlins rookies, starter Chris Seddon and reliever Ross Wolf were pounded for 8 runs between them in 2 1/3 innings.
In Milwaukee, the Brewers rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to edge the San Diego Padres by a 4-3 score in 11 innings to dice up Sunday’s regular season final games.
AP writer Rob Maaddi recaps the game for Yahoo sports;
Eaton allowed an RBI double to Ryan Zimmerman in the first to put the Phillies in an early 1-0 hole. He got in trouble in the second after getting the first two outs, but retired Ronnie Belliard on a foul pop to leave the bases loaded.
Left fielder Pat Burrell made a shoestring catch on a sinking liner by Dmitri Young in the third to temporarily bail out Eaton. After Austin Kearns singled to put two runners on, manager Charlie Manuel had seen enough.
Reliever Geoff Geary entered and retired Ryan Church on a double play to end the inning. Geary left with runners on first and third in the fourth. Felipe Lopez made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly off Jose Mesa.
Manuel then turned to Kyle Lohse, who pitched seven strong innings to beat Atlanta on Wednesday. Pitching on his normal side day, Lohse tossed two scoreless innings before having problems in the seventh. He came out with one out and runners on the corners.
J.C. Romero nearly got out of the jam, but first baseman Ryan Howard couldn’t handle Young’s squibber, a run scored and everyone was safe. Zimmerman scored from third to make it 4-0 after catcher [Carlos] Ruiz’s throwing error to center following a wild pitch that allowed pinch-runner Justin Maxwell to advance from first.
Chico (7-9) pitched more like Tom Glavine in his prime than a rookie with a 4.63 ERA against the league’s highest-scoring offense. The left-hander departed after Aaron Rowand homered leading off the seventh to cut it to 4-1. Chico allowed one run and four hits.
Saul Rivera got one out in the seventh before pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs walked and Carlos Ruiz singled.
Jon Rauch came in and retired pinch-hitter Shane Victorino on a popup and Jimmy Rollins on a grounder to end the threat. Not even the Phillie Phanatic doing his usual dance on the dugout and trying to put a hex on the pitcher could get the rally going.
Howard homered off Rauch with two outs in the eighth to cut it to 4-2. Chad Cordero pitched a scoreless ninth for his 37th save in 46 chances.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this all of Saturday’s games, click here.
In Sunday’s crucial regular season finale, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer goes for hs 14th win vs Jason Bergmann who held the Phillies to 2 runs, 4 hits in 6 innings in his last start against them.
Ninety miles up the road, on Sunday the Mets face an equally crucial final game against the Florida Marlins as two lefthanders; Dontrelle Willis and Tom Glavine face each other.
At stake in these two ballgames, the NL East Division championship, a playoff game between the Mets and Phillies, or the outside chance that one of these teams might face off against San Diego for the NL wildcard berth.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on all of Sunday’s games, click here.
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