Yesterday, the Phillies bats struggled against Justin Verlander as they were shut out 1-0. Today more of the same, with the Phillies only having one hit by Jimmy Rollins against Drew Hutchison and the Toronto Blue Jays in nine innings.
The Game: A.J. Burnett cruised through the first three innings until the fourth inning. Jose Bautista led off the inning with a single and was pinch ran with Emilio Guerrero. With Adam Lind striking out at the plate, Guerrero stole second and took third on an error by Carlos Ruiz. Dioner Navarro followed with a sac fly to plate the run. 1-0 Blue Jays
In the seventh inning, Mario Hollands replaced Jonathan Pettibone. Josh Thole led off with a walk and Emilio Guerrero followed with a single to move Thole to second. Jonathan Diaz then bunted the runners over for the first out, but that ended the day for Hollands. Justin DeFatus came in and allowed a single to Gabe Jacobo to plate two runs on the error by Leandro Castro in left field. DeFatus gave up another hit but escaped the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. 3-0 Blue Jays
In the top ninth inning, Jonathan Papelbon coming in to get some work. Papelbon must have had a sense of rumor because he was wearing Carlos Ruiz’s jersey instead of his own. It is still not known why. The bottom of the inning, Phillies loaded the bases thanks to two walks and hit batsman, but failed to complete the comeback.
Today, Jonathan Pettibone pitched in his first game back with the big club. He pitched two innings and gave up two hits and had two strikeouts.
Impact: Over the last two days, the Phillies bats have gone ice cold. While pitching has been on point, the Phillies will need to start swinging the bats over the next two days to be ready for the regular season that starts Monday.
Injury Update: Cole Hamels pitched in a minor league game. He went three innings and threw 30 pitches with 20 of them for strikes.
Up Next: The Phillies tonight will break camp and head north for the On Deck Series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates for two games. The Phillies will send Kyle Kendrick to the hill. Kyle this spring is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in 11 innings. Last start Kendrick pitched very well going six innings, striking out six. Charlie Morton will oppose him. Morton is 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in eight innings. Morton will be in the rotation for the Bucs. Note: Tomorrow’s game is a Citizen’s Bank Park at 7:05 PM ET
Andrew Shipotofsky in writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter @AShipotofsky
