Philadelphia Phillies face 4-5 defeat against Pittsburgh Pirates in regular season clash - MLB
Reliever David Herndon allows a walk off victory to Pittsburgh Pirates by conceding a hit in the bottom of the ninth as the Philadelphia Phillies experience a 4-5 defeat on April 8, 2012 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The lead that the Phillies commanded in the beginning was squandered cheaply as the game progressed. Until at the end the seventh, they had a three run lead and thus were well on their way to victory. However Pirates beat the lead as soon as relievers stepped
on the mound.
As regard to starters, Phillies have been spot on, with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and in today’s game Vance Worley providing them solid first few innings. The moment the game travels down to the relievers and the closer, Phillies start leaking runs.
After their starter Worley pitched impressive six innings striking-out five, walking once and giving up just one run, it looked like the Phillies will not find it hard to register the win from there on.
However as soon as reliever Michael Stutes held the mound in just one inning two runs were given up.
Even in the absence of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, Phillies witnessed a better performance from their offence. Leadoff hitter Juan Pierre came across four at-bats and hit twice while bringing two RBIs.
What disheartened Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel the most is the fact that despite incredible starts in their last three games, they squandered most of them.
Not fazed by two defeats however, for him it is just a start and many games have yet to be played.
"We had a good chance to win this series and we didn't," Manuel said. "It's disappointing but it's just three games into the season. The disappointing part for me is we got real good starting pitching but we only won once. You hate to waste that kind of
pitching."
Centre fielder for the Pirates, Andrew McCutchen, did the bulk of the damage to Phillies. Four at-bats he faced were sent for three hits and one RBI in the process.
Phillies will be looking to focus on keeping some momentum intact until they actually win the game. One will hope that this is not lost on the players.
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