Yesterday, the Phillies continued there funk and lost to the Braves. The Phillies were looking to rebound today when they traveled to Orlando to face the Braves. David Buchanan took the ball in his third game of the spring. Buchanan is looking to make a run at the 5th slot in the rotation. Buchanan faced off against rising star Julio Teheran who went 3-1 with a 1.04 ERA in six games for the Braves last season.
The Game: For the first three innings, David Buchanan gave up one hit and one walk in a pitching duel with Julio Teheran. Sean O’Sullivan came in the fourth in relief. O’Sullivan got a quick 123 inning including a strike out of Evan Gattis.
In fifth inning, O’Sullivan and the Phillies began to fall apart. To start the inning, Dan Uggla hit bomb to left field. Andrelton Simmons followed with a double. Lucky, Jordan Schafer popped into a double play. Christian Bethancourt ended the threat when he grounded out to second. 1-0 Braves
In the sixth, the Braves were back at it. After a single by Jason Heyward, Edward Salcedo hit a homer to left, plating both runs. After two outs, Jose Constanza and Dan Uggla both singled to put runners on first and second. Andrelton Simmons hit a single to plate Constanza. Jordan Schafer followed by hitting a triple to hit plate two more runs and ending O’Sulivan’s day. Kyle Simon came in and struck out Christian Bethancourt to end the inning. 6-0 Braves
In the top of the sixth, finally got their first run and hit of the game. Tony Gwynn walked to lead off the inning. With one out, Marlon Byrd walked to put runners on first and second. Ryan Howard struck out for the second out, but Kevin Frandsen got the Phillies first hit and plated Gwynn. Domonic Brown popped out to end the inning. 6-1 Braves
In the eighth inning, Jake Diekman came in out of the pen. Evan Gattis would hit ground rule double to lead of the inning. Jose Constanza grounded out for the first out but moved Gattis up to third. Phillip Gosselin followed with a single to right scoring Gattis. With two outs, Todd Cunningham came to the plate and took Diekman deep for a homer to end the scoring for the afternoon. 9-1 Braves
Other Phillies pitcher making an appearance in the game was Bastardo who pitched a clean frame.
Some notable offensive performances:
Kevin Frandsen 1-3, 1 RBI
Reid Brignac 1-1
Impact: The Phillies bats appear to be as cold as ice. In the last three games, they have ten hits and six of them were in one game. If the Phillies want to win games this season, they are going to have to hit the ball. The pitching hasn’t been the greatest but most days it’s been enough to win games. The one bright spot was David Buchanan who looks to be these years J.A. Happ/Vance Worley/Tyler Cloyd.
Up Next: The Phillies travel to Ed Smith Stadium to face the Orioles. The Phillies will send A.J. Burnett to the hill for his third start of the spring. Burnett is looking to hit fewer batters and get into regular season form. He will be opposed Ubaldo Jimenez making his second start of the spring as the Orioles signed him after camp had begun.
Andrew Shipotofsky is writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter @AShipotofsky
