Gonzalez shelled by Cardinals in major league debut

Final: Cardinals 11, Phillies 5

WP: Michael Wacha (4-0, 2.42 ERA) LP: Severino Gonzalez (0-1, 23.63 ERA)

St. Louis, MO – Inside the Phillies' clubhouse, there was increasing hype heading into tonight's game against Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals. Not only because the team was motivated to win their third consecutive game, which would be a season high, but because of the history that was about to be made. With right hander Severino Gonzalez making his major league debut with the Phillies, he and catcher Carlos Ruiz became the first Panamanian-native battery in baseball history.

Left fielder Ben Revere led off the game for the Phillies with a great first at-bat, making Wacha throw eight pitches before yielding a single. Center fielder Odubel Herrera then bunted Revere into scoring position on a sacrifice, however second baseman Chase Utley and right fielder Jeff Francoeur struck out and grounded out respectively to end the inning.

The Cardinals didn't take long to figure out Gonzalez. With one out in the bottom of the first, third baseman Matt Carpenter worked a seven-pitch at ball to hit his first triple of the season. Three pitches later on a 1-1 count, left fielder Matt Holliday doubled off of a curveball from Gonzalez, scoring the first run of the game. First baseman Matt Adams followed suit with a RBI single, scoring Holliday from second to increase St. Louis' lead to 2-0.

An inning later in the bottom of the second, two additional insurance runs were added to the Cardinals' score. Right fielder Jason Heyward began the inning with a single on two pitches, and catcher Yadier Molina subsequently walked after making Gonzalez throw seven pitches. Second baseman Kolten Wong followed with St. Louis' fifth hit of the night, a fly ball just out of the reach of Revere in left. Heyward tried to score rounding third, however he was called-out on the throw from Revere to Ruiz at home. The next batter, Wacha, helped his own cause with a ground-out RBI, and center fielder Jon Jay continued the momentum as the lineup turned over, with a RBI-single to give his team a 4-0 advantage.

The Phillies' offense answered right away in the top of the third to decrease their four-run deficit. Shortstop Freddy Galvis led off with a single to center field, his 23rd hit in 65 at-bats for the season. Gonzalez followed with a sacrifice bunt, which advanced Galvis into scoring position at second. Two batters later, Herrera doubled for the sixth time of the season to score the Phillies' first run of the game. The very next pitch, Utley singled to left field to score Herrera, making the game a 4-2 Cardinals' advantage.

Despite receiving run support, Gonzalez continued to struggle the next half inning against the potent St. Louis lineup. The first two batters, Holliday and Adams, reached base on a single and double respectively. With runners on the corners, shortstop Jhonny Peralta scored his team's fifth run of the game with a sacrifice fly RBI to center field. Heyward followed with a walk, Gonzalez's second allowed, to put the runners back on the corners with just one out. Subsequently thereafter, Molina delivered his team's sixth run of the game with a sacrifice fly RBI to left field.

The Red Birds' threat wasn't over just yet.

A single by Wong put runners on the corners for the third time in the bottom of the third. Wacha then helped his own cause, again, with a RBI single to center field to increase St. Louis' lead to 7-2.

That would be it for Gonzalez in his major league debut. He lasted just two and two-thirds innings, allowing seven earned runs on ten hits and two walks. Right handed reliever Dustin McGowan took over, and recorded the final out in the inning to finally end the inning. McGowan would end up throwing a total of 1.1 scoreless innings of relief in his appearance tonight.

In the top of the fourth, the Phillies' offense went down 1-2-3 for the second time of the game. Wacha threw just 15 pitches to increase his pitch count to 56 (40 strikes) after four innings of work.

The top of the fifth was much different, however. On the fourth pitch of his at-bat, Galvis singled for his second hit of the game. Right fielder Grady Sizemore, who entered the game with McGowan in the third on a double-switch move to replace Francoeur and Gonzalez on the mound, followed with a walk on seven pitches. Revere followed with another walk to load the bases with nobody out. Two consecutive ground outs, from Herrera and Utley, brought home the Phillies' third and fourth runs of the game to shrink their deficit to 7-4. Darin Ruf, who pinch-hit for McGowan, lined out to end the rally and thus the inning.

Left hander Jake Diekman entered the game in the bottom of the fifth, his tenth appearance of the season. Heyward walked on four pitches, and eventually made it to third on ground outs by Molina and Wong. The Cardinals' starting pitcher Wacha, who was already 1-2 with 2 RBIs in today's game at the plate, walked on seven pitches to put runners on the corners with two outs for Jay. Despite a diving stop by Galvis, Jay's infield single scored yet another insurance run for Wacha and the Cardinals.

The inning would continue, a common theme seen tonight as Phillies pitching continuously struggled against the Mike Matheny-managed, St. Louis offense. A ground-rule double by Carpenter scored Wacha to give the home team a 9-4 lead. Diekman threw 35 pitches in the fifth, 17 of them for strikes. He had a much better sixth inning of relief, allowing just one walk on 17 total pitches.

With two runners on for the Phillies in the top of the sixth and two outs, Wacha was pulled in favor of left hander Randy Choate to face Sizemore. Lasting five and two-thirds innings, Wacha surrendered five earned runs on six hits and two walks tonight. He struck out four batters: Utley, first baseman Ryan Howard, and Ruiz (2). Choate got out of the inning without allowing a Phillie to score, as he struck out Sizemore to end the threat.

In the top of the seventh against Choate, with Revere on second and two outs, Andres Blanco hit a pinch-hit, RBI double down the right field line to shrink the Cardinals' lead to four runs.

Right handed reliever Justin De Fratus threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning for the Phillies. In the bottom of the eighth off De Fratus, Adams hit a sacrifice fly, for his second RBI of the game, to put the Cardinals back up by five runs, 10-5. Later on in the inning off of reliever Jeanmar Gomez, Molina singled-home another runner to cap off scoring in tonight's game at 16 combined runs.

Galvis picked up his fifth three-hit game of the season tonight, going 3-4 to raise his average to (.368). With 25 hits in 20 games this season, he has already bested his 2014 campaign, which had just 21 hits in 43 games.

Starting Pitchers

• Gonzalez: L; 60 pitches, 40 strikes; 3 groundouts, 2 flyouts; 18 faced batters
• Wacha: W; 91 pitches, 60 strikes; 9 groundouts, 1 flyouts; 26 faced batters

Out of the 'Pen

Phillies

• Dustin McGowan (3rd, 4th): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 4.63 ERA
• Jake Diekman (5th, 6th): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 10.00 ERA
• Justin De Fratus (7th, 8th): 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.22 ERA
• Jeanmar Gomez (8th): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.38 ERA

Cardinals

• Randy Choate (6th, 7th): 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 7.71 ERA
• Mitch Harris (8th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, o HR, 0.00 ERA
• Carlos Villanueva (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 1.59 ERA

NL East Standings

What's Next

Wednesday, April 29, 2015: at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 pm

• RHP Aaron Harang (2-1, 1.37 ERA) vs. RHP Carlos Martinez (2-0, 1.35 ERA)
• TV: CSN, ESPN; Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT, SBP 1480 (Sp.)

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