Final: Giants 8, Phillies 5
WP: Josh Osich (1-0, 0.00 ERA) LP: Luis Garcia (3-4, 3.86 ERA) SV: Santiago Casilla (22)
San Francisco, CA - Despite hitting two home runs in the top of the sixth inning to gain a 4-1, late advantage, the Philadelphia Phillies' (29-61) bullpen faltered against the San Francisco Giants (45-43) to result in the team's 61st loss of the season out of 90 total games played.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Phillies | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| Giants | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | X | 8 | 15 | 1 |
Tonight's game looked promising at the start for Pete Mackanin's ball club. With one out retired in the top of the first, second baseman Andres Blanco walked, followed by a single from rookie third baseman Maikel Franco. A fielding error by Giants' center fielder Angel Pagan allowed Blanco to advance to third, and put runners on the corners for first baseman Ryan Howard. Howard capitalized with a RBI-single, his first RBI since July 6 against left hander Eric Surkamp and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Making his first appearance on the mound since the end of April, David Buchanan looked strong in five innings of work. His only earned run allowed occurred in the bottom of the second, a RBI-triple to shortstop Brandon Crawford which scored first baseman Brandon Belt from second base.
The Phillies' right hander struck out three batters, two of which were former Phillie, Hunter Pence, and the other being the opposing pitcher, Ryan Vogelsong. Pence was hitless in five at-bats Saturday night.
The game was knotted at one run up until the top of the sixth, when the Phillies hit two, two-out home runs off of Vogelsong to gain a 4-1 advantage. Howard's home run was his 15th of the season, and the 349th of his 12-year career. Left fielder Cody Asche hit a two-run, 401-foot blast to right center field, his fifth.
During the next half-inning, things started to turn for the worse for the Phillies, who lost their 60th game of the season Friday evening, prior to the All-Star break, for the first time since 1997.
With two outs recorded and runners on first and second, right handed reliever Luis Garcia gave up a two-run double to Pagan. After second baseman Joe Panik walked, third baseman Matt Duffy tripled to bring home two more runners and give San Francisco a 5-4 lead.
The Giants were not done scoring just yet in the sixth inning, as the next batter, catcher Buster Posey hit a RBI-single to right field. Two more insurance runs were added by Bruce Bochy's team in the latter-half of the seventh, which gave them a commanding 8-4 lead with just six more offensive outs on the Phillies' side.
Southpaw Javier Lopez entered for San Francisco in relief during the top of the eighth, and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Sergio Romo took the mound during the top of the ninth, but was not as effective, allowing a two-out double to center fielder Odubel Herrera. With the game now a save situation, 34-year-old right hander Santiago Casilla recorded the final out for his 22nd save of the season in 26 opportunities.
Losing their fourth consecutive game, the Phillies are now on pace to go 52-110 this season. They have a league worst record on the road, (11-36), and are 22 games behind in the loss column to the National League East division-leading Washington Nationals (47-39).
Starting Pitchers
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Buchanan | 5.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7.58 |
| Ryan Vogelsong |
5.2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4.23 |
- Buchanan: ND; 72 pitches, 49 strikes; 6 groundouts, 2 flyouts; 23 faced batters
- Vogelsong: ND; 95 pitches, 58 strikes; 5 groundouts, 2 flyouts; 24 faced batters
Out of the 'Pen
Phillies
- Jake Diekman (6th): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 5.23 ERA
- Luis Garcia (6th): 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.86 ERA
- Elvis Araujo (7th): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.65 ERA
- Ken Giles (7th): 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 1.91 ERA
- Jeanmar Gomez (8th): 1.0 IP, 1 , 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.51 ERA
Giants
- Josh Osich (6th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
- Hunter Strickland (7th): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.18 ERA
- George Kontos (7th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 1.67 ERA
- Javier Lopez (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 1.88 ERA
- Sergio Romo (9th): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 5.19 ERA
- Santiago Casilla (9th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.16 ERA
At the Plate
Phillies
- Ryan Howard: 2-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, .222 AVG
- Cody Asche: 1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, .247 AVG
- Freddy Galvis: 2-4, R, 2B, 3B, .279 AVG
Giants
- Matt Duffy: 3-5, R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, .298 AVG
- Brandon Belt: 2-4, R, 2B, 3B, .279 AVG
- Brandon Crawford: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, .262 AVG
What's Next:
- Sunday, July 12, 2015: at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 pm
- RHP Chad Billingsley (1-2, 6.67 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Heston (8-5, 3.51 ERA)
- TV: CSN; Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT, WTTM 1680 (Sp.)
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
