Marlon Byrd provided all of the Phillies offense with a homer and 2 RBIs in their 6-2 loss Sunday
Marlon Byrd homered in support of a solid A.J. Burnett, but the offense as a whole was stagnant against Jeff Locke and the Pirates, whose 6-2 win Sunday marked the team's first sweep of the Phillies in Pittsburgh in 12 years.
The Game: The Phillies got on the board early against the groundballer Locke (2-1), as Byrd's single to left scored Jimmy Rollins. Rollins hit a ground ball to third that Pedro Alvarez fielded easily, but the third baseman's throw to first went wide of the bag, allowing Rollins to move to second.
Burnett(5-8) came out throwing strikes early, and looked solid in striking out the first to batters he faced. With two outs, Andrew McCutchen beat out a groundball to third for a single, and advanced to third on a Neil Walker single. Walker stole second, and scored along with McCutchen on Russel Martin's double to right, which put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1.
The Pirates got to Burnett again in the third when Josh Harrison led off the inning with a triple and scored on Walker's sac fly to center. Aside from his first inning hiccup, Locke was in control just about all game. Through the first six innings, he held the Phillies to just two hits and a walk with the help of two double plays from his defense. He got the bulk of his outs on ground balls as the Phillies were aggressive in the count, never really making the young lefty sweat until late in the game.
In the seventh, Byrd hit a Locke changeup deep to left for his 18th homer of the year and cutting the lead to 3-2. Unfortunately, the team couldn't capitalize as Locke retired John Mayberry and Cody Asche quickly to end the inning. Burnett worked around a single to record a scoreless seventh, getting a strikeout of Gregory Polanco on his 100th pitch for the third out.
Justin DeFratus relieved Burnett in the eighth after pinch-hitters Ryan Howard and Chase Utley failed to help get anything going in the top of the inning. Harrison reached second after his ground ball glanced off Asche's glove into shallow left, and scored after McCutchen tripled off the wall in center (a play that stood after official review), prompting Ryne Sandberg to call Jake Diekman in from the 'pen to replace DeFratus.
However, Diekman didn't have much better luck, loading the bases after an intentional walk to Martin and hitting Gaby Sanchez with a pitch. Pinch hitter Starling Marte singled to center, scoring McCutchen, and Jordy Mercer added a sac fly to drive in Martin, staking the Pirates to a 6-2 lead.
Ben Revere reached first on an error in the ninth, but was stranded as Byrd fouled out for the final out against Jared Hughes.
Notable Statistics:
A.J. Burnett: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Marlon Byrd: 2-4, R, 2 RBI
Jimmy Rollins: 0-4
Impact:
A win today would have made the series loss easier to stomach, but the Phillies offense was painful to watch yet again as they beat fastball after fastball into the ground against Locke, who allowed just two run over eight innings. The batters were overly aggresive early in the count, and got into few three (or two) ball counts against Locke. This can partly be attributed to playing from behind, as the Phillies staff has an ERA north of 5.00 in first innings this year, but three runs shouldn't be too much of a deficit to overcome. Burnett, who was recieved a video tribute from the Pirates and applause from the fans, pitched a game worthy of a win. The Phillies, now 37-51, are going to have to look long and hard at their options as the trade deadline looms nearer.
Up Next:
Cole Hamels (2-5 ,2.98) takes the mound for the Phillies Monday as they start a four game set with the Milwaukee Brewers, who will counter with Marco Estrada (7-5, 4.94)
