Brutal, brutal, brutal. The season continues to go down south for Cliff Lee, who entered this game with zero wins and left with the same amount. It's not about the offense bailing him out, that hasn't been an issue as of late. This is now about Cliff Lee giving up way too many runs, which is highly unusual for him, but it has been an issue all season. It wouldn't be a pretty one in the first game played at the Marlins' new ballpark for the Phils.
The first run of the game was a weird one. An infield single hit by Logan Morrison went through the legs of Cliff Lee, and Jose Reyes was able to score on the error.
Hanley Ramirez scored in the third on a single to left from Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton later scored in the inning on a long sacrifice fly from Omar Infante. The bases were loaded during that time, and in any other ballpark, Infante would have had himself a grand slam. Luckily, the dimensions in the outfield are ridiculous, and the Marlins would only take a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, Hunter Pence hit a bullet to left field for a solo home run, putting the Phillies up on the board.
The fifth inning would be the last for Cliff. After allowing a single and a ground-rule double, Justin Ruggiano doubled to deep, deep center to score Stanton and Morrison. Ruggiano later scored on a singe from catcher John Buck. With the Fish up 6-1, Raul Valdes would take the ball from Lee.
Cliff's final line: 4.2 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3K, 96 pitches (61 for strikes). Cliff's ERA now stands at 4.13. Absolutely awful.
The Phillies were making Josh Johnson work as his pitch total reached 108 after six innings, the sixth being his last. He allowed only four hits and one run, the homer to Pence. He struck out six and walked two.
Raul Valdes and Jeremy Horst combined to pitch 3.1 scoreless innings against the Fish. They struck out two men each.
Ryan Webb came in for the ninth with a 6-1 lead and gave up an infield single to Chase Utley before Utley would score on a single from Hunter Pence. However, he would make it out of the inning with a groundout from Polanco.
Cole Hamels and Mark Buehrle will square off tomorrow at 4 in the second game of this series.
