Buchanan struggles as Phillies drop series finale, 6-2

WP: Justin Masterson (1-0, 3.00 ERA) LP: David Buchanan (0-1, 18.00 ERA) Attendance: 23,418

David Buchanan, who took the mound this evening for his first regular season start of 2015, had what appeared to be a nice outing up until the top of the third inning.  Buchanan was one out away from throwing his third scoreless frame to open the night, however a walk allowed to slugger David Ortiz escalated into six runs scored on five hits and one additional walk for the potent Red Sox' offense.

Opposing starter Justin Masterson retired the first seven Phillies in order on just 29 pitches, 19 for strikes. This offseason, he re-signed as a free agent with the team that drafted him in the second round of the 2006 amateur draft.

In the bottom of the third, shortstop Freddy Galvis became the team's first baserunner as he singled to shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Having allowed six runs on seven hits and four walks in just three innings of work, Buchanan was replaced in the batting order with Odubel Herrera, who went on to walk on six pitches.

Two batters later, with catcher Carlos Ruiz at the plate and Galvis on third, a wild pitch by Masterson resulted in the first run of the night for the Phillies. Ruiz went on to walk, and second baseman Chase Utley followed by singling to center field to shrink his team's deficit to 6-2.

In relief of Buchanan, who saw his 16-game streak of three allowed runs or less come to a close, right hander Dustin McGowan took the mound for his Phillies debut. McGowan, 33, signed as a free agent with the club just this past Saturday, April 4, after spending seven seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. He threw two scoreless innings tonight on 41 pitches, 23 for strikes.

Justin De Fratus made his second appearance of the season in the top of the sixth. He struck out Red Sox' second baseman Dustin Pedroia and Ortiz on five and eight pitches respectively. Hanley Ramirez, the next batter, flew out to left fielder Darin Ruf on the fifth pitch of his own at-bat to secure the 1-2-3 inning for De Fratus. The next inning, he threw another scoreless inning of relief.

Left hander Craig Breslow entered the game for Boston in the bottom of the seventh. Breslow took the place of Masterson, who allowed just two earned runs in six innings of work on 95 pitches. The Phillies threatened to score this half-inning, as they had two runners on with just one out. An Andres Blanco infield pop-out, and a Ben Revere deep line drive caught by Shane Victorino on the run, ended the rally.

In his second appearance of the season, Luis Garcia prevented Boston from scoring despite a single allowed to center fielder Mookie Betts, and a fielding error by Galvis, his second of the night. The 25-year-old infielder for the Phillies had just five errors total in his career prior to tonight over 1,212.2 fielded innings.

Tonight is the first time a Phillies shortstop has two errors to his name in a single game since Jimmy Rollins' pair of "E6's" on August 10, 2010. This 15-9 defeat for the Phils was ironically against Rollins' new team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jake Diekman had a much better relief appearance tonight in the ninth than his 0.1 inning, four-earned run outing on Opening Day. The 28-year-old left hander allowed just one hit to the Red Sox' in his second stint of 2015, a line-drive single by Bogaerts.

Other than the third inning, offense for both clubs was all but nonexistent tonight in South Philadelphia.

The Phillies are now 1-2 on the season.

– Starting Pitchers –

– Out of the 'Pen –

Red Sox

Phillies

– What's Next –

Friday, April 10, 2015: vs. Washington Nationals, 7:05 pm

LHP Gio Gonzalez vs. RHP Jerome Williams

• TV: CSN
• Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT, SBP 1480 (Sp.)

Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.