Led by Kendrick, Phillies rebound from tough loss
One night after perhaps the most devastating loss of their sub-par season, the Phillies were clicking on all cylinders as timely hitting, lights-out starting pitching, and crisp fielding led the Phils to a 6-2 win over the Padres.
The Phillies have now won 22 of their last 29 games against the Padres, and have won 13 of their last 16 at Petco Park.
Brown crushes 20th homer, drives in four
Since his last home run on June 8, Brown had been hitting just .189 and had driven in only three runs over those 14 games. He matched those numbers with one swing of the bat on Tuesday, as he took Jason Marquis deep for a three-run shot in the fourth that helped the Phillies to a 3-2 lead.
Despite struggling for the better part of three weeks, Brown still sports a very respectable .275 average, and his 20 home runs and 54 runs batted in are both good for second in the N.L. behind only Carlos Gonzalez (21 homers, 58 RBI).
Kendrick continues to churn out quality starts
The right-hander was on the top of his game, as he tossed eight very strong innings in which he allowed only two runs on seven hits. He had six strikeouts and did not issue a walk in the game. Kendrick has been a lock in all but just a few of his starts this year. Kendrick has now allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of his 16 starts this season, and of those eleven games the Phillies have won all but two of them.
Bullpen not pretty, but gets the job done
Antonio Bastardo had two runners in scoring position and the potential tying run on deck with one out, but he dropped a filthy 2-2 slider on Chris Denorfia and then struck out Logan Forsythe to end the game. He went ahead 0-2 on four of the five batters he faced, and spared Charlie Manuel from having to make a decision on whether to use Jonathan Papelbon if things got really dicey.
Up Next…
The rubber match of the three game set with the Padres concludes Wednesday at 7:10 PT (10:10 ET). Cole Hamels (2-11, 4.50 ERA) will look to establish some type of momentum for himself and the Phillies. He will be opposed by left-hander Robbie Erlin (1-0, 4.15 ERA), who is filling in for the injured Clayton Richard.
