Kendrick, Bullpen Shine, Phillies Shutout Cardinals
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Phillies 3rd baseman Placido Polanco and centerfielder Shane Victorino each homered on Wednesday off of St. Louis starter Brad Penny, Polanco homering with Victorino on board. Kyle Kendrick provided his 2nd shutout effort of the season over seven innings and relievers Danys Baez and Jose Contreras finished off the shutout going clean on St. Louis in the eighth and ninth innings as Kendrick and the bullpen shined and the Phillies shut out the Cardinals by a 4-0 score.
With the win, the Phils now lead the NL East by 2 games over the 2nd place Mets who lost to Cincinnati and hold a 2 1/2 game lead over those surprising 3rd place Washington Nationals who were edged out in ten innings by the Atlanta Braves.
Kendrick was superb in his seven inning effort throwing 94 pitches while largely handcuffing the power of the Cards lineup and spreading out 6 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3 to earn his first win of 2010. Losing pitcher Penny went six innings giving up 5 hits, including the 2 homers while striking out 6 and walking none. Polanco and Victorino teamed up to score 3 of the 4 Phillies runs by way of reaching Penny for the 2 homers.
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi recaps the game for Yahoo:
Kendrick (1-1) allowed six hits in his second-best performance this season. Danys Baez and Jose Contreras each tossed a perfect inning to complete the six-hitter. Kendrick, who won 21 games for the Phillies from 2007-08, had been struggling. He entered with a 7.61 ERA and pitched more than five innings in only one of his previous five starts. He tossed eight scoreless innings in a 4-3 loss at Atlanta on April 20.
Penny (3-2) gave up three runs and five hits, striking out six in six innings. It was the 14th straight quality start by Cardinals starters, their longest streak since 1973 when they also had 14 in a row.
Penny retired his first nine batters before Victorino singled to start the fourth. Polanco hit the next pitch into the seats in left-center for a 2-0 lead. It was the first homer allowed by Penny this season.
Victorino connected in the sixth for a 3-0 lead. Pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs had an RBI double off Mitchell Boggs in the seventh.
The Cardinals had their best chance to score with runners on first and third and one out in the seventh. But Kendrick got Brendan Ryan to ground into a double play.
Phillies RF Jayson Werth was 0 for 3 with strikeouts, ending his streak of reaching base safely at 26 games.
To view the scores of all of Wednesday’s MLB games, click here.
The Phils hope to grab 3 of the 4 game series on Thursday as ace Roy Halladay hangs out his “Doc” shingle once again opposed by Kyle Lohse for the Cardinals.
Atlanta follows the Cards into Citizens’ Bank Park for a 3 game weekend series to end the Phillies’ 10 game homestand. Ageless lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by Derek Lowe for the Braves in Friday’s opener.
To view all of Thursday’s games, click here.
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