Associated Press
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The Philadelphia Phillies easily had their best offensive showing of the season, and they did it without cleanup hitter Ryan Howard in the lineup.
Delmon Young had a career-high six RBIs, helping John Lannan breeze to his first victory with Philadelphia, and the Phillies got homers from Michael Young and John Mayberry in a 16-1 rout of the Dodgers on Friday night, snapping Los Angeles’ season-best, six-game winning streak.
“It was a good game from top to bottom,” Delmon Young said. “We had a good first inning, we kept putting together good at-bats and Lannan kept putting up zeros. I know it had to be the highest offensive total we’ve had all year. It wasn’t like those other games where we had a lot of hits and didn’t score many runs. Tonight we actually drove everyone in.”
Howard, batting .268 overall and .173 against left-handers, was given the day off by manager Charlie Manuel with lefty Chris Capuano starting for the Dodgers. And with lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers on Saturday, Manuel said he would give the 2006 NL MVP another day off before putting him back in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale.
Howard is in an 0-for-16 drought that includes eight strikeouts.
“Right now he’s uncomfortable and he’s not seeing (lefties) good,” said Manuel, who met privately with Howard and hitting coaches Wally Joyner and Steve Henderson before batting practice. “It’s just a matter of him getting his swing back and getting in a good groove. So we’re going to do some drills with him, do some work with his hitting and also give him some time — let him sit down and kind of clear his head and we’ll where he goes. And he’s fine with it.”
Despite Howard’s absence from the lineup, the Phillies ended up with a season-high 21 hits, including four by Michael Young.
“It was one of those odd games that doesn’t happen very often,” the Phillies’ third baseman and leadoff hitter said. “We’ve been talking about trying to generate some momentum offensively as a team and producing the way we’re all capable of doing. I mean, you never expect something like this, but we expect to go out and have good at-bats and play solid fundamental baseball.”
Delmon Young had an RBI single in the first inning, a two-run double in the second, a run-scoring fielder’s choice grounder in the sixth and a two-run single in the seventh. In Thursday night’s series opening 6-4 loss, the Phillies’ right fielder singled all four times up.
“About the same time every year when I get to close to 150 at-bats, everything starts clicking,” he said. “I’ve been working in the cage all the time and in BP, so it was just a matter of time. I missed the whole first month, so I’m a month behind everybody.”
The Phillies, who hadn’t had more than nine runs and 16 hits in a game all season, also got a pair of run-scoring singles from Jimmy Rollins — matching his RBI total for his previous 10 games combined.
Michael Young’s leadoff homer in the fourth gave Philadelphia a 7-0 lead. Lannan made it 8-0 with his RBI single in the fifth, and the Phillies extended the margin to 12-0 with a four-run sixth highlighted by Mayberry’s two-run homer off Peter Moylan. They added three more in the seventh.
“I don’t think it’s the worst one I’ve been involved in,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who was a Yankees coach before joining Joe Torre’s staff midway through the 2008 season. “Cleveland beat us, they scored 20-something runs when I was coaching in New York. Then we came back and won the series. Then we go to their place two weeks later. They score 20-something runs and we end up winning the series.”
The 15-run losing margin was the largest for the Dodgers since they moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.
At the end of the day it ends up being a loss, Mattingly said. “Losing a game in the ninth hurts a lot more than this.”
Things got so ugly for the Dodgers, utilityman Skip Schumaker was summoned by Mattingly to pitch the ninth inning. He struck out pinch-hitter Humberto Quintero with the bases loaded on his 24th pitch after retiring his first two batters. Schumaker also threw a scoreless inning of relief on April 29 against Colorado in the Dodgers’ 12-2 loss at Chavez Ravine.
“Donnie told me early on in the game that it was a possibility, so I was loose to go,” Schumaker said. “You don’t want to make a mockery of this game and get anybody hurt.”
Lannan (1-2) gave up five hits over seven innings in his sixth start with the Phillies and third since coming off the disabled list.
Lannan also was 3 for 4 at the plate.
“It was a good night,” Lannan said. “Just to have that offensive production — I mean, you know it’s always there. But just to see it happen line that was great for the team.”
The Dodgers’ run came on a sixth-inning double by pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke, who was reinstated from the disabled list after missing 15 games because of bursitis in his left shoulder.
Capuano (2-5) yielded seven runs — five earned — and 10 hits over 3 2-3 innings in his third start off the DL, after throwing a combined 11 scoreless innings against the Yankees and Padres during the last road trip.
“The problem was that was I wasn’t locating enough to get ahead,” Capuano said.
BRAVES 3, DIAMODNBACKS 0
ATLANTA — Julio Teheran pitched six strong innings, Andrelton Simmons homered for the Braves.
The Braves, who have won three of four and lead second-place Washington by 5½ games in the NL East, retired former All-Star third baseman Chipper Jones’ number before the game.
Teheran (6-4) allowed four hits, one walk and struck out 10.
The NL West-leading Diamondbacks have lost three of four. They were shut out for the first time since losing 5-0 at San Francisco on Sept. 26, a span of 85 games.
Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel earned his 23rd save in 26 chances. After Aaron Hill grounded out, Kimbrel walked Paul Goldschmidt and then Miguel Montero grounded into a double play.
Arizona’s Randall Delgado (0-2) gave up eight hits, two runs and three walks in six innings.
PADRES 9, MARLINS 2
MIAMI — Will Venable drove in three runs and saved one with a diving catch in right field to help San Diego beat Ricky Nolasco and Miami.
Logan Forsythe hit a two-run homer for the Padres and had three of their 15 hits. Edinson Volquez (6-6) gave up two runs in six innings for the Padres, who have outscored Miami 20-3 this season while winning all four games.
Nolasco (4-8), the subject of trade speculation, allowed six runs and 11 hits in five-plus innings to match or surpass his worst effort of the season in all three categories.
The Marlins’ loss snapped a three-game winning streak that matched their longest this year.
NATIONALS 6, METS 4
NEW YORK — Ian Desmond doubled home the go-ahead run in the ninth inning and Washington rallied late after a dominant Matt Harvey departed.
Harvey struck out 11 and left with the Mets leading 4-1 after seven innings.
Ryan Zimmerman lined a three-run double with two outs in the eighth that made it 4-all. The Mets used four relievers in the inning, and still couldn’t protect the lead.
Jayson Werth, who had struck out in all three at-bats against Harvey, hustled for a leadoff double in the ninth against closer Bobby Parnell (5-4). Desmond doubled down the right-field line and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kurt Suzuki.
Tyler Clippard (6-1) won in relief and Drew Storen got his second save.
PIRATES 10, BREWERS 3
PITTSBURGH — Gerrit Cole overcame a rocky start to become the first Pirates pitcher to win his first four career starts in more than a century and Starling Marte missed getting cycle a few feet short of a home run in a win over Milwaukee.
Cole (4-0) gave up three runs in the first inning but no more as he made it through six innings, allowing eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Nick Maddox started 4-0 in his first four starts in 1907.
Johnny Hellweg (0-1) failed to get out of the second inning in his major league debut, giving up seven runs — five earned — in 1 2-3 innings.
Marte had a double and triple among his three hits, and just missed a homer in the eighth when he flied out to deep center field.
ROCKIES 4, GIANTS 1
DENVER — Michael Cuddyer homered to extend his hitting streak to 25 games, Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight scoreless innings and Colorado beat slumping San Francisco.
Wilin Rosario also went deep and Jordan Pacheco had three hits for the Rockies, who moved within three games of Arizona in the NL West.
Chacin (7-3) earned his fourth straight win with another standout performance.
Buster Posey homered among his three hits for the Giants, who have lost five straight and seven of their last eight.
Giants starter Barry Zito (4-6) allowed four runs and 10 hits while striking out three in 5 1-3 innings.