Roy Oswalt Exits in Second Inning with Injury, Cardinals Defeat Phillies 12-2

Posted by Danielle Wilson

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Following last night's masterful outing from Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt took the mound against Chris Carpenter tonight for the possible series sweep in St. Louis. Unfortunately, the Cardinals got to little Roy early on, starting with John Jay's solo homer to right field in the bottom of the first inning. Three more runs would score in the second inning from Cruz's RBI single, and Theriot's two-run single.

It was clear that there was something very wrong with Roy Oswalt. It was even more clear after Cliff Lee came in to pinch hit for him in the top of the third inning. It was later reported that Roy Oswalt was suffering lower back tightness again. Kyle Kendrick replaced him in the third inning, allowing a run to score on Schumaker's groundout. 5-0 Cardinals.

As for the Phillies' lineup, they were held scoreless by Carpenter through five innings before Ryan Howard singled in the sixth to score Shane Victorino from third. Cruz responded with a single to score Rasmus in the same inning. 6-1 Cards.

Juan Perez made his first appearance as a Phillie, and first appearance in the majors since 2007. Perez walked two, but struck out Schumaker to end the inning.

…Then Danys Baez happened in the eighth inning. I'll just write his line out for you: four hits, two walks, one home run, six earned runs, one strikeout. Yep, 12-1 Cardinals. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Carlos Ruiz homered to left field, 12-2 Cards. Ross Gload hit his first extra-base hit of the season, a double to right, but Jimmy Rollins struck out to end the game.

The Phillies took two of three from the Cardinals, and will head home to start a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics tomorrow with Vance Worley on the mound against Guillermo Moscoso at 7:05