In all three of Ben Lively‘s big league starts, he’s tossed at least seven innings and three runs or fewer. Today, in his fourth start, his streak of throwing seven innings or more was snapped, but his quality start streak still remains. It was ugly early, as Lively allowed a three run first with a two-run homer run from Paul Goldschmidt and a Chris Owings solo home run. He was able to battle through six without allowing any more runs.
Robbie Ray, who started for the D-Backs, came into play with a 0.24 ERA in his last five starts. Aaron Altherr didn’t get that memo when he launched a solo shot deep into the seats in right. Maikel Franco took Ray the other way with another solo dinger to cut the lead to 3-2 in the second.
With the game tied at three in the bottom of the sixth, Ty Kelly once again played hero ball. With runners on first and second, Kelly hit a double into the right-center field gap that plated Cameron Rupp to give the Phils a 4-3 lead. It’s Kelly’s second go-ahead extra-base hit in his last four days. The Phils chased Ray after 5.1 innings, allowing eight hits, and four earned runs.
The game was well in-hand going into the ninth. However, after a leadoff walk and a single, Hector Neris allowed a single to Gregor Blanco that tied the game at four.
The Phils threatened in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and second, but D-Backs’ reliever Archie Bradley was able strikeout Tommy Joseph and induce a harmless infield popup from Maikel Franco.
Pete Mackanin called Jeanmar Gomez as the game moved to extras. Gomez wasn’t able to keep the D-Backs off the board by allowing Rey Fuentes to blast a solo home run. It was his first of his career. D-Backs’ closer Fernando Rodney struck out the side in the bottom of the tenth to complete the three-game sweep of the Phils.
After an off day tomorrow, the Phils will play host for a three game series against the St. Louis Cardinals starting Tuesday night at 7:05.
