Phils Lose Extra Inning Battle

After an almost 6 hour drive through the beautiful state of Pennsylvania, my family and I finally reached PNC Park in Pittsburgh to watch the Phillies take on the Pirates. The weather was nice, the stadium was beautiful and the stage was set for a classic inter-state battle.

The Phils made a little noise in the top of the first but were unable to get any runs across. The Phils then proceeded to go down in order in the next 4 innings. The Bucs didn't do much better and got their first hit in the 4th when Andrew McCutchen singled to center. After 5 innings there was still no score and it was a classic pitcher's duel between Cole Hamels and Jeff Karstens. Hamels was cruising behind his lively fastball and his spot on change up while Kearstens had his off speed and curveball keeping the Phils off balanced.

Finally in the sixth the Phils scored on an RBI-single from Chase Utley. But the Bucs responded in the bottom of the inning and tied the game thanks to a sac-fly from Jose Tabata. From there Hamels pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th and Contreras pitched a shutout 9th. For the Bucs Karstens was replaced by Evan Meek in the 8th and the hard throwing Joel Hanrahan pitched a scoreless 9th.

Carlos Ruiz worked a lead off walk in the 10th and that would be the Phillies' only base runner in extra innings. The Phils went down in order in the 11th and 12th and failed to get anything going. Fianlly with 2 outs in the bottom of the 12th Danys Baez allowed a single to Xavier Paul. Paul eventually stole 2nd and Jose Tabata knocked in his second run of the night to give the Pirates a 2-1 victory.

This is the third straight loss for the Phils and the third straight game in which there offense has been non-existent. The Phils need to start doing a better job of moving runners along and playing small ball. Hamels pitched a gem and he deserves more run support.

I was going to include my thoughts about PNC Park in this post but I think it deserves an article of its' own. Stay tuned to Broad Street Marching for my thoughts on PNC Park as well as more Phillies Pirates coverage.