The way the Philadelphia Phillies are hitting, their pitchers need to be perfect or close to it.
Adrian Gonzalez's first of two solo homers broke up Cole Hamels' bid for a no-hitter with one out in the seventh, Wade LeBlanc pitched seven impressive innings and the San Diego Padres beat the struggling Phillies 3-1 on Monday night.
Hamels (5-5) gave up three hits and two runs in eight innings, losing his third straight start. He was trying to become the second Phillie to throw a no-hitter in less than two weeks. Roy Halladay tossed the 20th perfect game in major league history against Florida on May 29.
``My job is to throw quality pitches, go as deep as I can and give us an opportunity,'' Hamels said. ``Eventually, it'll pay off.''
LeBlanc (3-4) allowed four hits and walked one. The lefty retired the last 14 batters he faced and snapped a four-game losing streak. Luke Gregerson threw a perfect eighth and Heath Bell finished for his 16th save in 19 chances.
``In a ballpark like this, you can't get behind hitters,'' LeBlanc said. ``I was just trying to stay aggressive and put the hitters on the offensive.''
Gonzalez lined an opposite-field shot into the flower bed just over the left-field wall to snap a scoreless tie. Scott Hairston connected three pitches later for a 2-0 lead.
Gonzalez drove one into nearly the same spot off Danys Baez in the ninth.
``He was Hamels, just made a couple mistakes and we hit the balls out,'' Gonzalez said. ``He only made two bad pitches.''
Ryan Howard hit an RBI <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_10_0>double
</NOBR> with two outs in the ninth, but Bell struck out Jayson Werth to end it. Bell fanned Werth with runners on first and third to preserve San Diego's 6-5 win in 10 innings on Sunday.
The two-time NL champion Phillies are 4-11 since Hamels beat Boston on May 21. Despite a star-studded lineup that's missing Jimmy Rollins, they have scored only 29 runs and been shut out five times in those 15 games.
``I don't know what to say,'' manager Charlie <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_14_0>Manuel
</NOBR> said. ``I want us to come out, have fun, hit some balls and score. We're having a tough time. I've never seen a team go games like this and not score runs.''
The NL West-leading Padres won the last two to split a four-game series, improving to 16-11 on the road.
Before Gonzalez and Hairston went deep back-to-back, the Padres didn't even have any hard outs against Hamels. The closest they came to a hit were infield grounders.
Third baseman Placido Polanco charged in and threw out Chase Headley on a broken-bat tapper leading off the fifth. Chris Denorfia and Jerry Hairston Jr. were barely retired on slow rollers to shortstop Wilson Valdez in the sixth.
David Eckstein hit a one-hopper to first baseman Howard leading off the seventh and dived headfirst into the base, but Hamels beat him to the bag.
The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the first, but Werth grounded into a double play.
Notes: Phillies 2B Chase Utley hit .339 with six homers and 14 RBIs in his first 15 games. Since then, he's batting .229 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 39 games. ... The Padres have hit consecutive homers four times this season. ... Hamels retired the first eight batters before walking LeBlanc in the third. ... Gregerson hasn't allowed a walk to the last 94 batters he's faced, the longest streak by a Padres reliever.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/San-Diego-Padres-at-Philadelphia-Phillies
Adrian Gonzalez's first of two solo homers broke up Cole Hamels' bid for a no-hitter with one out in the seventh, Wade LeBlanc pitched seven impressive innings and the San Diego Padres beat the struggling Phillies 3-1 on Monday night.
Hamels (5-5) gave up three hits and two runs in eight innings, losing his third straight start. He was trying to become the second Phillie to throw a no-hitter in less than two weeks. Roy Halladay tossed the 20th perfect game in major league history against Florida on May 29.
``My job is to throw quality pitches, go as deep as I can and give us an opportunity,'' Hamels said. ``Eventually, it'll pay off.''
LeBlanc (3-4) allowed four hits and walked one. The lefty retired the last 14 batters he faced and snapped a four-game losing streak. Luke Gregerson threw a perfect eighth and Heath Bell finished for his 16th save in 19 chances.
``In a ballpark like this, you can't get behind hitters,'' LeBlanc said. ``I was just trying to stay aggressive and put the hitters on the offensive.''
Gonzalez lined an opposite-field shot into the flower bed just over the left-field wall to snap a scoreless tie. Scott Hairston connected three pitches later for a 2-0 lead.
Gonzalez drove one into nearly the same spot off Danys Baez in the ninth.
``He was Hamels, just made a couple mistakes and we hit the balls out,'' Gonzalez said. ``He only made two bad pitches.''
Ryan Howard hit an RBI <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_10_0>double
</NOBR> with two outs in the ninth, but Bell struck out Jayson Werth to end it. Bell fanned Werth with runners on first and third to preserve San Diego's 6-5 win in 10 innings on Sunday.The two-time NL champion Phillies are 4-11 since Hamels beat Boston on May 21. Despite a star-studded lineup that's missing Jimmy Rollins, they have scored only 29 runs and been shut out five times in those 15 games.
``I don't know what to say,'' manager Charlie <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_14_0>Manuel
</NOBR> said. ``I want us to come out, have fun, hit some balls and score. We're having a tough time. I've never seen a team go games like this and not score runs.''The NL West-leading Padres won the last two to split a four-game series, improving to 16-11 on the road.
Before Gonzalez and Hairston went deep back-to-back, the Padres didn't even have any hard outs against Hamels. The closest they came to a hit were infield grounders.
Third baseman Placido Polanco charged in and threw out Chase Headley on a broken-bat tapper leading off the fifth. Chris Denorfia and Jerry Hairston Jr. were barely retired on slow rollers to shortstop Wilson Valdez in the sixth.
David Eckstein hit a one-hopper to first baseman Howard leading off the seventh and dived headfirst into the base, but Hamels beat him to the bag.
The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the first, but Werth grounded into a double play.
Notes: Phillies 2B Chase Utley hit .339 with six homers and 14 RBIs in his first 15 games. Since then, he's batting .229 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 39 games. ... The Padres have hit consecutive homers four times this season. ... Hamels retired the first eight batters before walking LeBlanc in the third. ... Gregerson hasn't allowed a walk to the last 94 batters he's faced, the longest streak by a Padres reliever.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/San-Diego-Padres-at-Philadelphia-Phillies
