Phils Squander Lead, Lose 5-3 to the Pirates
Another solid outing wasted
Roy Halladay continued to silence critics with another solid performance, as Corey predicted on this week’s PNTV. His eight strikeouts and two walks were much closer to what we’re used to from Doc. Although his strike ratio of 57/95 was still lower than normal, Halladay made it through 6 innings allowing just a single hit. Unfortunately, that hit in the fourth did yield a run, as Halladay walked and hit a batter earlier in the inning as he tried to paint the inside corner on lefties.
Roy tee’d up the game for the Bastardo-Adams-Paplebon trio to close out the 3-1 lead. Bastardo gave up a solo shot in the sixth but finished his inning without further damage. Mike Adams subsequently allowed 2 walks, 2 singles and a run before yielding to Jeremy Horst. Horst allowed one of his inherited runners to score – the winning run – before recording three outs. He pitched the ninth and allowed another run, but by that point, the Phillies and the crowd were deflated.
Offensive spurts
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each hit second-deck home runs tonight. The bombs were spectacular, not the least of which because they were off a lefty. But of course, no one was on base and they were just solo shots.
The Phillies supplemented their paltry 2 walks in the game with 10 hits. Still, it wasn’t enough as they left eight runners on base. One particularly disheartening play occurred in the fifth inning as Michael Young grounded into a 6-4-2 double play. Jimmy Rollins was nailed at home after unwisely attempting to sneak a run across.
Game Notes
Domonic Brown made a diving catch in the fifth (is it me, or are the Phillies racking up the Web Gems this season?)…Chase Utley followed his homer with an infield bunt single in the fifth inning…Michael Young’s consecutive game hit streak ended at 14.
