reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

7/3/13

The Phillies have not had a good road trip out west. The last place they want to visit for the final series of this 10 game road trip is in Pittsburgh. The Pirates own the best record in baseball, which is stunning considering they have been known for the past 20 years as losers. The Phillies have had chances to have a successful road trip through these past seven games, but have blown their chances due to poor fielding, poor bullpen, and poor hitting. The Phillies faced an emergency starter from the Pirates. Jeff Locke was supposed to pitch for the Pirates, but was scratched from his start due to throwing too many pitches in his bullpen session. Brandon Cumpton was the emergency starter who took Locke’s place. Jonathan Pettibone took the mound for the Phillies. Pettibone has hit a rookie wall and has not shown flashes of dominance that he’s shown earlier this season. Will Pettibone get lit up like a Christmas tree or will he dominate the Pirates dormant offense?

There was not a lot of offense in this game. All of the runs were scored in the sixth inning. The Phillies scored three runs while the Pirates scored one. Ryan Howard hit an RBI single to start the scoring. Domonic Brown hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Delmon Young hit an RBI double to round up the scoring at 3-0. In the bottom half of that inning, Garrett Jones hit a solo homerun. That right there was the final score at 3-1.The Phillies ended the Pirates' nine game winning streak.

Pettibone had a decent outing. He mostly had clean 1-2-3 innings, but would pitch deep counts to the Pirates hitters. That usually means he could be out of the game quicker than expected. Pettibone was bailed out of trouble by great defense. Jimmy Rollins foiled a hit and run play when he caught a line drive that resulted in a double play in the first inning. Chase Utley saved a run in the third inning when he made an incredible diving trap to rob Andrew McCutchen of an RBI single. Instead it was just a single and Pettibone struck out Jones to end the third. McCutchen helped the Phillies out in the sixth inning when he grounded into a double play for the first two outs. I mention this because Jones’ solo homerun could have been a multiple run homerun if there was no double play. In a surprise turn of events, the bullpen pitched scoreless baseball. However in not surprising news, the bullpen made the game nerve-racking because they left runners on base except when Jonathan Papelbon pitched. Everybody from the bullpen pitched except for Joe Savery. Only Justin De Fratus and Papelbon had a clean line in the box score. De Fratus had a big strikeout in the eighth inning when the bases were loaded for the Pirates. Papelbon did his thing to record his 16^th save of the season.

Cumpton pitched well in his third major league start. He had one bad inning that he would have wanted to take a mulligan, which was the sixth inning. Four of the Phillies six hits off of Cumpton came in that inning. Cumpton was a strike throwing machine throwing 60 of his 88 pitches for strikes. That’s incredible. The Pirates have one of the best bullpens in the National League. Justin Wilson and Bryan Morris showed why the Pirates have one of the best bullpens in the National League by throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Overall, this was a good Phillies win. They beat the best team in baseball. Also, the Phillies always have trouble beating the Pirates in Pittsburgh. As much as the Phillies had solid defense, they had their usual mental lapses in this game. Delmon Young dropped a routine flyball in the third inning. He must have thought about eating donuts that he took his eye off of catching the ball. Domonic Brown gambled on turning a double into a triple in the second inning when Travis Snider bobbled the ball in right field. Brown’s gamble didn’t work out too well when Snider fired a solid relay throw to Neil Walker who threw a strike to Pedro Alvarez at third to tag him out at third. The Pirates may be the best team in baseball, but they got one terrible offense to back up that best team in baseball status. However, the Pirates do have a solid pitching unit which will ultimately make them a playoff contender.

What did you think about this Phillies win? Sound off and stay tuned tonight when John Lannan takes the mound for the Phillies. Jeff Locke will pitch for the Pirates.