Asher Debuts, Rupp Homers But Phils Fall 9-4
Baseballs left CBP early and often in righy Alec Asher‘s Major League debut. Asher surrendered four earned via eight hits, including two homers, in a 9-4 loss against the San Diego Padres. Despite the loss, the Phillies won the series two games to one.
Asher retired the first batter he faced, Yangervis Solarte, but would surrender a single to catcher Derek Norris followed by a homer by slugger Matt Kemp to put the Padres up 2-0 in the first. The Phillies offense would fight back with a homer of their own in the second, as Cameron Rupp hit his eighth of the year off of James Shields. The one-run deficit would remain for just a few hitters as Justin Upton took Asher deep in the top of the third to raise the Padres’ lead back to two, at 3-1. Big Game James would get back the run he surrendered to the Phillies, driving in Yonder Alonso with two outs in the sixth, making it 4-1 Padres.
Hector Neris, who replaced Asher with two outs in the sixth following Shields’ RBI single, would fall victim to a Solarte solo shot, giving the Padres a 5-1 lead in the seventh. With the Friars in the driver’s seat and Adam Loewen in the game for the eighth, the Padres scored three more, all attributed to Loewen who left the inning without an out, as Justin De Fratus sat down three Pads while surrendering only one inherited runner.
Things seemed hopeless for the Phils, down 8-1 in the eighth when Odubel Herrera (4-4, 1 R, CS) picked up his fourth single of the day, this time off reliever Odrisamer Despaigne. Herrera was driven home by a Cesar Hernandez (2-4, 1 RBI, 1 R) triple. Aaron Altherr (1-4, 1 RBI) drove home Hernandez before a Ryan Howard GIDP ended the inning. With De Fratus in for the ninth, Melvin Upton drove home Clint Barmes to make the game 9-3. The Phillies wouldn’t give up, adding one more, a Cody Asche ground out that followed an Andres Blanco triple, but would fall to San Diego 9-4.
Quick Hits: With his 4-4 day at the plate, Odubel Herrera has moved into fourth in batting average (.295) among NL rookies, trailing only Stephen Piscotty, Enrique Hernandez, and Matt Duffy. Since his pinch-hit homer on June 6 against the Giants, Andres Blanco has hit .322 with 2 triples and 5 homers. In the last 20 Phillies’ games, Blanco is hitting .345 with 5 doubles, a triple, and 3 homers.
