Early Exit for Lee, Phils Fall to Braves 6-3

Just as Joe Blanton and Cole Hamels did before him, Cliff Lee (1-1, 7.84) got in trouble early and often tonight unable to make it out of the fourth inning.

In his 3.1 innings of work, Lee allowed four extra base hits including a triple to Jason Heyward.  Overall he allowed 10 hits, six runs, struck out three and walked one.  It seemed nothing would come easy for Lee tonight.  The first inning was the only inning in which Lee did not allow the lead off runner on base.

The Phillies (5-2) looked poised to catch all the breaks tonight when Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz had ground balls playing bumper pool off second base and Tim Hudson‘s leg, respectively.  Even Lee caught a break at the plate when Alex Gonzalez booted a seemingly routine grounder.  Ruiz scored on Victorino’s fielder’s choice for a 3-0 lead.

The Braves (4-4) came right back with a three spot in the bottom half with a triple from Heyward and an RBI double by Gonzalez.  Rookie Freddie Freeman followed up with an RBI single to cut the lead to one.  A fielder’s choice from Nate McClouth and the game was knotted up at three.

Three more runs and only one out into the fourth and Lee was out.  However, a huge bright spot for the Phillies was the bullpen.  Kyle Kendrick, Antonio Bastardo and J.C. Romero combined for 4.2 innings of two hit ball.   In fact, Bastardo allowed a hit to the first batter he faced, Chipper Jones, and then struck out the next six hitters.  Can you say closer?

Offensively the Phillies worked a bit backwards.  They scored early against Tim Hudson (2-0, 1.84) and then went quite after that.  Hudson went 7.2 and allowed eight hits and two runs.

Victorino, Ruiz and Ben Francisco each at two hits for the Phillies tonight.

Worth noting (if you care): The one hit Bastardo allowed to Chipper Jones was his 2,500 major league hit.  Jones is now three RBIs shy of 1,500 for his career.  Even for a Brave, that is impressive.