Phils drop two of three to the Twins
This afternoon the Phillies salvaged a win in the three-game series against the lowly Minnesota Twins. Their offense finally woke up, albeit versus a porous Twins pitching staff. The Phillies’ pitching, on the other hand, failed mightily this week, blowing leads they held in the first two games.
Tuesday – Phillies lose 14-10
It was a slugfest in Minnesota on Tuesday night as both teams played to a football score. Aaron Nola took the ball hoping to turn his luck around against the worst team in baseball. Nola did not make it past the fourth inning for the third straight game and also gave up seven earned runs. His ERA has skyrocketed from 2.65 on June 8th to 4.11 today.
The Phils offense received contributions in the form of home runs by Peter Bourjos, Tommy Joseph, and Cameron Rupp and took a 6-4 lead into third. Nola and, later, Brett Oberholtzer surrendered the lead to make it 11-6 Twins. The Phils started to mount a comeback in the top of the 8th with an RBI single from Peter Bourjos and three-run bomb courtesy of Maikel Franco to cut the lead to 11-10. David Hernandez was not able to come through with a shut down inning in the bottom of the frame, allowing three runs to close out the scoring at 14-10.
Wednesday – Phillies lose 6-5
Like teammate Aaron Nola, Adam Morgan got the call looking to turn his struggles around around against Kyle Gibson of the Twins. It was more of the same for Morgan as he allowed a run in each of the first two innings and three in the 5th before his night was over. His line showed 5 runs and 11 hits over 5 innings of work.
The Phils big offensive star on Wednesday was second baseman Andres Blanco, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. He hit a solo home run in the third and a two-run single in the fifth to break a 2-2 tie. Ryan Howard added an RBI single to center that extended the lead to 5-2. David Hernandez got the ball with the game tied in the seventh, but failed the team once again after allowing a run that would ultimately seal the Phils fate at 6-5.
Thursday – Phillies win 7-3
Finally, we’re able to talk about a quality outing delivered by right hander Jerad Eickhoff. Eickhoff, along with the offense, brought the Phillies’ nine game losing streak to a halt while pitching six innings and allowing just two earned runs. Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis provided some pop in the lineup, each with a home run. Galvis recorded five RBIs and Cesar Hernandez had himself a 4-for-4 day. Utility man Andres Blanco (who got the start at first base) added two more hits to the barrage for his second straight multi-hit game.
