Jimmy Rollins was honored for his hit milestone tonight and was joined by former teammates Bobby Abreu, Mike Lieberthal, Marlon Anderson and Pat Burrell. After a phenomenal pre-game ceremony, Jimmy Rollins spoke the words "let's play some baseball" into the microphone. The Phillies (34-41) came into the game fresh off of a road trip in which they finished 5-2, with a sweep of NL East divisional foe, Atlanta, and a series split with the St. Louis Cardinals. Up first on their homestand was the Marlins (38-38), with the Phillies looking to improve upon their 16-21 record at home.
The Game: The Marlins wasted no time getting on board first against Roberto Hernandez. After getting a ground out to start things, Derek Dietrich singled to right. Hernandez followed that by hitting Giancarlo Stanton in the hand, putting runners on first and second with just one out. Casey McGehee doubled to drive in both Dietrich and Stanton to make it 2-0 Marlins.
The Phillies threatened with runners on first and second with two down in the bottom of the second, but Ben Revere lined out to center on the second pitch of the at-bat to end the inning. In the bottom of the third, Roberto Hernandez worked things to a full count and smacked a single to right, his first career hit in 41 at bats. The Phils had runners on second and third in the fourth with two down, but Domonic Brown had another poor at-bat, flying out softly to center field to dash any hopes at a run.
Hernandez settled in and tossed six innings of two-run ball while scattering three hits, striking out six and walking three.
The Marlins padded their lead in the ninth. After ten straight games without an error, the Phils committed two big ones in the inning. With Antonio Bastardo on the mound, Jeff Baker reached on a rare error from Chase Utley. Ed Lucas attempted to sacrifice bunt Baker to second, but reached on a throwing error by Bastardo, putting runners on first and second with none out. Reed Johnson followed with a single that dropped just feet in front of Domonic Brown, scoring Baker to make it 3-0 Marlins. The ball hit by Johnson likely could have been caught by Brown, but the Phillies left fielder backed off at the last second and let it drop it for a hit. Bastardo got Jake Marisnick swinging for the first out, but Derek Dietrich singled to right to score Lucas, extending the Miami lead to 4-0.
Ryne Sandberg called upon hard-throwing rookie, Ken Giles, to face Giancarlo Stanton and Casey McGehee and he got both of them to go down swinging to end the inning, preventing any further damage. Unfortunately, the Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, sealing their third straight loss.
Notable Offensive Statistics:
Cody Asche: 3-3, 2B
Jimmy Rollins: 1-4
Ryan Howard: 1-4
Marlon Byrd: 0-4, K
Impact: The Phils were shutout for the 10th time this season, the most since 1989. After winning the first five games of their road trip, they have dropped all three since. They now have gone 20 straight innings without scoring a run at Citizens Bank Park as well. While it may have looked like Nate Eovaldi dominated the Phils, it actually wasn't the case. The Phillies hit plenty of balls very hard, but they were directly at fielders or they resulted in great defensive plays by the Marlins. Seeing Cody Asche have a great night at the plate was definitely a bright spot in this one. Domonic Brown, on the other hand, continues to have bad at-bats, yet still gets the nod in the starting lineup regularly. The bullpen was solid in relief, as Hollands, De Fratus and Giles combined to throw 2.2 scoreless innings. Antonio Bastardo gave up two unearned runs, but he committed one of the errors.
If you missed J-Roll's pre-game ceremony, check it out here:
Up Next: The Phillies will look to snap their three-game skid on Tuesday night at 7:05PM as they send David Buchanan (3-3, 4.95) to the mound against Andrew Heaney (0-1, 1.50), who will be making his second start in the majors.
Brandon Apter, Publishing Editor for Philliedelphia.com
