No Jay Bruce? No Joey Votto? No problem for the Reds. The Phillies bats were silenced once again as they dropped their fourth straight game tonight, 3-0. They are are off to a dreadful 4-9 start to the month of May and they haven't scored a run since the seventh inning on Tuesday night. Although the team hasn't scored, Kyle Kendrick looked good tonight and Cody Asche went 3-for-4 at the plate.
The Game: Cincinnati got all of their runs in the first against Phillies starter, Kyle Kendrick. Billy Hamilton and Skip Shumaker hit back-to-back singles to start things of. Brandon Phillips lined out to center, moving Hamilton to third. After getting Todd Frazier to pop out, it looked like Kendrick would avoid an early hole. Instead, he left a cutter up in the zone and Devin Mesoraco took it over the left-field wall for a three-run homer and an early 3-0 lead for the Reds, which was actually enough to seal the victory.
Jimmy Rollins made a nice sliding play to nab Ryan Ludwick at first to end the first inning. Check out the play below…
Aroldis Chapman walked John Mayberry with two outs in the ninth and Cody Asche reached second on an error after his single, but Cesar Hernandez struck out swinging to end the game, running the Phillies scoreless streak to 20 innings.
Reds starter Alfredo Simon was in control tonight, pitching a stellar 7.2 scoreless innings, striking out eight in the process.
Alfredo Simon (5-2, 2.45) gets the win tonight while Kyle Kendrick (0-4, 3.96) takes the loss. Aroldis Chapman notched his second save of the season.
Notable Offensive Performances:
Chase Utley: 2-4
Cody Asche: 3-4, 2B
Ryan Howard: 0-4, 2 K's, 5 LOB
Impact: Kyle Kendrick made one mistake in the first inning and the offense could not bail him out. He pitched very well after that, serving up seven solid innings overall, striking out five while giving up three runs. He has not won a game since August 6th, 2013 and the Phillies have scored one run or less for him in eight of his last 15 starts. The offense didn't show up tonight…again, but Cody Asche had an encouraging night, going 3-for-4 at the plate, raising his average to .240 on the season. After a two-hit night, Chase Utley is hitting .347 at the dish. The Phillies were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Ryan Howard made some nice defensive plays in the field and J-Roll had a slick sliding play as mentioned before.
Up Next: The Phillies and Reds continue their series Saturday night at 7:05pm when Cole Hamels (0-2, 5.32) takes the mound against Homer Bailey (3-2, 4.72)
Brandon Apter is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter @ApterShock
