Myers Beats Old Team as Phillies Lose to Astros
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The Phillies had runners in scoring position in the first inning, twice in the second inning and again in the third inning but only scored 1 run off of former Phil Brett Myers. Those opportunities were all she wrote as Myers cruised through the fourth through eighth innings retiring 17 of the next 19 hitters allowing only a single and walking 1 in that stretch. Meanwhile, the Houston Astros took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on 4 hits, added 2 more runs in the fifth as 1st baseman Carlos Lee struck a 2 run shot off of former Astro and losing pitcher Roy Oswalt, and added an insurance run in the seventh — all 5 runs off of Oswalt as the Phils lost their 2nd straight game and Myers beat his old team as the Phillies lost to the Astros by 5-1 in the opener of their 3 game series.
Despite their loss to Houston, the Phillies’ NL East lead remained at 12 games over the 2nd place Atlanta Braves who were edged in extra innings by the Florida Marlins. The Braves still hold a 4 1/2 game lead in the NL Wild Card race. The 3rd place Mets remained 24 1/2 games back although they were edged by the 4th place Washington Nationals who are now 26 1/2 games back. The last place Marlins are 28 games behind the front-runners. The Phils magic number (combination of Phils wins and Braves losses) to clinch the NL East title dropped to 5 games.
AP’s game recap for Yahoo sports provides the highlights of Monday’s game:
Raul Ibanez doubled to open the second inning for the Phillies and he scored on a single by Pete Orr.
Myers allowed six hits in eight innings. He struck out four and walked one. Myers has allowed three earned runs in his last 22 2-3 innings.
“Sometimes you go out there and don’t want to throw a pitch because they know it’s coming or they have something on you,” Myers said. “You just have to mix it up and keep them (as) off balance as possible.”
Oswalt pitched seven innings, allowed five earned runs, struck out two and walked two.
J.D. Martinez got three hits and scored three runs for Houston. He opened the fourth inning with a double and scored on a single by Brian Bogusevic. Humberto Quintero’s double scored Bogusevic for a 2-1 lead.
Martinez singled with two outs in the fourth and scored on Lee’s 16th homer into the Crawford boxes in left field for a 4-1 lead.
Martinez got his third hit off Oswalt in the seventh. After Oswalt hit Lee with a pitch, he scored on a grounder by Bogusevic.
“He’s a guy that throws any pitch on any count,” Martinez said. “We stuck with the approach and hit off his fastball and adjusted everything else. You never know what’s coming off him.”
Oswalt pitched seven innings and Joe Blanton made his first appearance since May 14th and since a lengthy stay on the DL recovering from an elbow injury. He gave up a hit while retiring the Astros on 11 pitches in the eighth inning. Myers’ win upped his record to 5-13 for the season.
For all of Monday’s scores and recaps, click here.
The Phillies try to get back on the winning track against the Astros in game 2 in a battle of lefthanders as Cole Hamels is opposed by another former Phil J.A. Happ who also has an unseemly 2011 mark of 5-15.
For all of Tuesday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.
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