And the struggles against the Braves continue…
Dan Uggla’s line drive home run to left field in the bottom of the eighth broke the 2-2 tie and gave the Braves the 3-2 win on Civil Rights Day. The Phillies have now lost the last two series against the Braves and trail th season series, 5-4.
Both teams wore 1974 retro jerseys to honor Hank Aaron’s record breaking 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth. While Roy Halladay looked great in the powder blue jersey, he looked even better on the mound, scattering eight hits in eight innings pitched and allowing just three runs.
However, Halladay ran into some bad luck today and took the complete game loss for the second straight game.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Uggla and Eric Hinske hit identical broken bat singles to center field that put runners on the corners with no outs. Doc was able to get Alex Gonzalez to strike out swinging, but Freddie Freeman hit a ground ball that deflected off Halladay’s glove that allowed Uggla to score. The ground ball looked like a sure double play ball, but the glove deflected the ball away from Jimmy Rollins.
Halladay was able to force two pop outs to prevent further damage and keep it a 1-0 game.
Atlanta’s Tim Hudson was just as impressive, allowing just two runs on four hits in seven innings pitched. His only mistake came in the bottom of the sixth inning when John Mayberry Jr. hit a two-run home run into the first row in left field to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
While the rest of the Phillies struggled at the plate, Mayberry Jr. took advantage of his rare start in right field going 1-for-2 with two walks, a stolen base and the two-run home run in the sixth inning.
The Braves would respond in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Freddie Freeman to score Uggla and tie the game at two. Uggla scored all three runs for the Braves. Halladay, who had won 16 straight games when given a lead, has now lost two straight.
In the bottom of the eighth, Uggla hit the go-ahead leadoff homerun to give the Braves the 3-2 lead. Uggla’s homerun was arguably the only hard hit ball of Halladay.
HR: Mayberry (2), Uggla (7)
WP: Venters (3-0) LP: Halladay (5-3) S: Kimbrel (10)
TTB 