The Phillies offense struggled to put anything together this afternoon and the Astros got to Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez early on en route to a 7-1 victory.
After a solid outing in his last start, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez took a step back today against the Astros. In four innings of work, he allowed four runs on eight hits including two home runs. So far this spring, Gonzalez has a 7.53 ERA has given up a major league high 25 hits. Entering today's game opposing batters were hitting .370 against him. Though he may still be the so called "front-runner" for the fifth spot in the rotation, he's given the Phillies no reason to believe he'll even be a serviceable option in that spot. Jonathan Papelbon got an inning of work today, surrendering one hit and striking out one in a scoreless frame. Kevin Slowey tossed one inning and gave up three runs, two earned, one three hits. Jeanmar Gomez continued to have an impressive spring, throwing two more scoreless innings today, lowering his ERA to 1.04. With Mario Hollands nursing a ligament injury in his elbow, Gomez could very likely find himself in the bullpen mix. Cesar Jimenez pitched the ninth, allowing one hit.
Offensively, it was a rather quiet day for the Phillies, but Freddy Galvis, Ryan Howard, Cody Asche, Odubel Herrera and Cameron Rupp all had hits. Howard and Rupp both hit doubles. Ben Revere, Darin Ruf and Chase Utley were a combined 0-for-7 with three strikeouts. The offense went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Down 4-0 in the fourth, Ryan Howard drove in Freddy Galvis with an RBI-double to give the Phillies their lone run of the day.
The Astros jumped on Gonzalez this afternoon. The began to capitalize in the second, getting their first run courtesy of a Carlos Correa RBI-double. Astros starting pitching Asher Wojciechowski drove in Marwin Gonzalez with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Carlos Correa got the best of MAG again in the fourth, smacking a solo home run to left, giving Houston a 3-0 lead. Hank Conger followed with a solo homer of his own in the very next at-bat to make it 4-0. An RBI-single off the bat of L.J. Hoes in the sixth gave the Astros their second four-run cushion of the game, 5-1. That wouldn't be all. Alex Presley mashed an RBI-double to drive in both Hank Conger and L.J. Hoes, extending the lead to 7-1 in the sixth.
Houston starter Asher Wojciechowski lasted 4 2/3 innings and gave up the one runs on four hits while striking out four. He has an impressive 1.08 ERA this spring. Former Phillies prospect Jonathan Villar went 1-for-3 while Jon Singleton was 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Former Brave Evan Gattis went 2-for-3 on the day, but Carlos Correa stole the show, going 2-for-4 with a homer, double, two runs scored and two RBI's.
Up Next: Tomorrow at 1:05pm, the Phillies head to Dunedin, Flordia for a matchup with the Blue Jays. Cole Hamels gets the nod against Aaron Sanchez.
