Phillies bullpen collapses in extra-inning loss to Cardinals

By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Final: St. Louis Cardinals 7, Philadelphia Phillies 6 ❖ Attendance: 25,037

PHILADELPHIA — For the second night in a row, the Philadelphia Phillies (22-48) lost to the St. Louis Cardinals (33-37) in extra innings. Nick Pivetta had another solid outing, allowing three runs and striking out 10 over six innings. Luis Garcia pitched a good 7th inning. All of the relief pitchers that entered the game for the Phils after that, however, struggled. Joaquin Benoit, Hector Neris and Edubray Ramos collectively allowed four runs on four hits, including two home-runs.

There were a few positives on the offensive front, but not many. Howie Kendrick racked up three more hits to increase his already impressive batting average. Cameron Perkins made his first Major League start and recorded his first big league hit on an infield single in the 2nd inning and his first RBI on a single in the 10th inning. The offense had plenty of chances to score more runs, seeing that they had 16 hits, but weren't able to capitalize on those opportunities.

WP: Brett Cecil (1-2, 4.28 ERA) ❖ LP: Edubray Ramos (0-6, 5.10 ERA) ❖ SV: Seung-Hwan Oh (3.58)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
STL	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	2	7	9	3
PHI	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	16	1

The Phillies got off to a good start in the bottom of the first. After a strike-out by Cameron Perkins in his first Major League start, second baseman Howie Kendrick and right fielder Aaron Altherr hit back-to-back singles to bring Tommy Joseph to the plate. He hit a ball up the middle that was kicked by Cardinals' second baseman Greg Garcia to load the bases. Maikel Franco hit a ground ball to third, and Joseph was retired at second for the second out of the inning. This put runners on first and third for Odubel Herrera. He doubled to center field to score both Altherr and Franco and give the Phils a 3-0 lead. Freddy Galvis flied out to left field to end the inning, but the Phillies bats made their mark early on in the game.

The Phils tacked on in the fourth. Andrew Knapp led off the inning with a walk. He moved up to second on a single by pitcher Nick Pivetta. One out later, Kendrick singled. He had gotten hits in six straight at-bats and reached base in seven straight at-bats. This loaded the bases for Altherr. He grounded into a force out, with Kendrick being retired at second. Garcia recorded his second error of the game on his throw to first in attempt to retire Altherr. The throw went past first baseman Matt Carpenter. This scored both Knapp from third and Pivetta from second. Altherr moved up to second on a wild pitch during Joseph's at-bat. Joseph then singled to left and Altherr attempted to score on the play. Unfortunately, he was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the frame.

The Cardinals got one back in the top of the fifth inning. Left fielder Tommy Pham homered to dead-center field. Pivetta struck out Garcia, Paul DeJong, and pinch-hitter Chad Huffman to end the inning.

The Cardinals weren't done against Pivetta. After Carpenter and Dexter Fowler were retired on a strike-out and a line-out, respectively, it seemed that Pivetta would coast through another inning. That was not the case. Stephen Piscotty walked to bring Jedd Gyorko to the plate. He got his third hit of the game: a two-run homer over the right field wall. Yadier Molina flied out for the final inning, but the Cardinals were chipping at the Phils' lead.

The Cardinals inched closer to the Phils' lead in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Jose Martinez led off the inning with an opposite field homer off of Phils set-up man, and occasional member of the closer carousel, Joaquin Benoit. However, Benoit was able to get Carpenter to ground out and Fowler to strike out to get two outs. Stephen Piscotty doubled off the top of the right field wall to put the tying run on second. Benoit luckily struck out Gyorko to end the inning.

The Phils looked to Hector Neris to secure the victory. The righty was unable to do so. After striking out Molina for the first out of the inning, Neris allowed a monster homer to Pham. It was his second home-run of the game. This tied the game at five runs apiece and was Neris's third blown save of the season. Garcia flied out to left and DeJong struck out, but the damage had been done.

The Cardinals were quick to take the lead in the tenth inning. Edubray Ramos, who struggled mightily in last night's game, came in to pitch. Martinez led off the inning with a double to right-center field. He then advanced to third on a balk by Ramos, putting the winning run 90 feet away from scoring with no outs. Ramos was able to strike out Carpenter for the first out. Fowler was intentionally walked to set up the opportunity for a double play. However, Ramos attempted to pick-off Fowler at first and ended up throwing the ball over the first baseman, Joseph, and into the stands. Martinez scored on the play and Fowler advanced to second. It was then that Ramos was removed in favor of Adam Morgan. Pinch-hitter Aledmys Diaz flied out for the second out. Gyorko was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second for Molina. He singled to right field, scoring Fowler and moving Gyorko up to third base. Pham struck out to end the inning, but the Cardinals had a 7-5 lead over a struggling Phillies offense.

The Phils tried to fight back in the bottom of the tenth. Andrew Knapp led off the inning with a single to right. He moved up to second on a ground out by Daniel Nava. Perkins notched his first Major League RBI with a single to right to score Knapp. Kendrick recorded an out for the first time in his last eight at-bats. He replaced Perkins at first base after the latter was retired at second on the fielder's choice. Altherr struck out to end the game. Ultimately, the Phillies had opportunities to score earlier in the game, but failed to take advantage.

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