Wednesday, April 24, 2013

reCAP: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Philadelphia Phillies



4/24/13

It was a freezing cold night in Philadelphia for the second game of this four game series between the Phillies and Pirates. I was at the game and boy was I shivering. In the first game of this series, the Phillies eeked out a 3-2 win when Jimmy Rollins popped the go-ahead single to lead his team to victory. Jonathan Pettibone pitched well in his debut. Cole Hamels was on the mound for the Phillies in this game and he has been pitching better as of late. Jeff Locke started for the Pirates and has not had a good start to the season. Brandon Inge was activated from the disabled list last night and started at third base for the Pirates. They sent Alex Presley to the minors to make room on the roster for Inge. The Pirates threw out an all right-handed hitting lineup against Hamels. Pedro Alvarez, Travis Snider, and Garrett Jones all sat out while Gaby Sanchez, Jose Tabata, and Inge replaced them. Chase Utley did not start for the Phillies. Freddy Galvis replaced him in the lineup batting second. Will the Phillies squeak out another win or will the Pirates steal a game?

This Phillies game was borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Only two runs were put on the board. The first run was scored in the fourth inning. Neil Walker hit a sharp groundball to shortstop that took a funny bounce and Jimmy Rollins couldn’t handle the ball. Inge hit an RBI double into centerfield that scored Walker from first and it was a 1-0 game. The final run in this game came on a Gaby Sanchez solo homerun in the eighth inning. The final score was 2-0.

Hamels pitched well for the Phillies. He pitched eight innings, allowed seven hits, two runs, walked one, and struck out six batters. Phillippe Aumont relieved Hamels in the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning.

Locke pitched surprisingly well for the Pirates. He pitched six innings, allowed two hits, walked two, and struck out six batters. The Pirates bullpen of Tony Watson, Mark Melancon, and Jason Grilli combined to pitch three shutout innings, allowed two hits, and struck out five batters.

Overall, the Phillies sucked. They had four hits in this game. That’s pitiful. One of those hits was a triple by John Mayberry Jr. with no outs in the fourth inning and they STILL couldn’t score one run in this game. I like how Hamels has been pitching as of late. He’s putting those first two starts he had this season in the back of his mind and focusing on how he’s doing now. He’s being like the Hamels of 2012, but without any wins to show. Michael Young has been solid as he had another hit to extend his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games. This was a terrible game to be at, especially since it was cold out and the Phillies got shutout.

Can the Phillies offense wake up in their next game? Sound off and stay tuned as Roy Halladay takes the mound for the Phillies and Wandy Rodriguez starts for the Pirates.

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