The Phillies finally won a baseball game last night, snapping a five-game losing streak. The Phillies seem to have one person who can get them out of a rutt and that person is Cliff Lee. Lee tossed seven strong innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. Lee struck out six and walked one en route to his 8th win of the year. The Phillies were able to plate enough runs to give Lee a chance and it paid off. Ben Revere stole the show, however, going 4-for-6 with two runs scored in last night's game.
Tonight as the Phillies are fresh off a win, they will visit the Colorado Rockies to kick off a three-game series. Kyle Kendrick (6-4, 3.22 ERA) will get the start in game one and will look to improve on his last time out. The Rockies, who will be without shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (.347, 16 HR, 51 RBI), will send out Juan Niscalso (4-2, 4.61 ERA) in an effort to take an early series lead.
Kyle Kendrick wasn't lights out last time around, but he was effective. On Friday against Milwaukee Kendrick tossed six innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits. The righthander struck out six and walked one. Despite a winning pitcher's line, Kendrick's teammates were unable to mount any offense and Kendrick was handed his fourth loss of the year. Although he has not been pitching as well as he did earlier this season, Kendrick has still been solid enough to give the Phils a chance to win. In his last three starts Kendrick is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA (7 ER in 21 IP). The veteran has a career 3-2 record to go along with a 4.63 ERA against Colorado.
Juan Niscalso is coming off of one of the best performances of his career. On Saturday against San Diego, Niscalso took a perfect game into the sixth inning before surrendering two earned runs on four hits in that inning. Niscalso walked away with a no-decision after striking out seven hitters. Niscalso has struggled with his command in his few outings, walking six hitters through 17 innings. Over his last three, Niscalso is 0-1 with a 5.69 ERA (10 ER in 17 IP). The righthander will be making his first career start against the Phillies tonight.
Rockies without Tulo
When the Phillies enter Coors Field tonight to play the Colorado Rockies they will be able to breathe with a sigh of relief. This afternoon the Rockies officially placed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on the DL with a right rib fracture. Tulowitzki is hitting .347 and has hit 16 HR along with 51 RBI in 61 games this season. Tulo's timeframe for returning to the field is 4-6 weeks. So take advantage of that in this series, Phillies.
Game Notes:
- Carlos Ruiz is headed to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to begin a rehab assignment Saturday. He said Thursday he will play there for a couple of games before playing a couple more rehab games next week with Double-A Reading.
- Dexter Fowler is hitting .375 career off of Kendrick in eight at bats.
- Score runs for Kendrick. Coors field is a pitcher's park.
Phillies lineup:
- Ben Revere CF
- Michael Young 3B
- Domonic Brown LF
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Kevin Frandsen 2B
- John Mayberry Jr. RF
- Freddy Galvis 2B
- Humberto Quintero C
- Kyle Kendrick P.
Rockies lineup:
- Josh Ruttledge 2B
- Jonathan Herrera SS
- Carlos Gonzalez LF
- Michael Cuddyer RF
- Todd Helton 1B
- N0lan Arenado 3B
- Tyler Colvin CF
- Yorvit Torreabla
- Juan Niscalso P.
First Pitch Forecast: Partly Cloudy – 80° – 15% PoP
TV: myPHL17
Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT
Erik Seybold is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter.
