Bad bunts, bad baserunning, bad BABIP: Cardinals 5, Phillies 2

The Phillies were befallen by the killer B's Wednesday night: bad baserunning, bad bunting, and in the case of Chase Utley, bad BABIP. It all resulted in a 5-2 loss as the Phils dropped their second consecutive affair to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

And, you know what they say. All good Harangs must come to an end. Or something like that. For the first time in 2015, Aaron Harang did not post a quality start.

The fifth inning was Harang's downfall, in which the Cardinals sent nine men to the plate, which you may or may not call batting around. (#TeamNineForever) Peter Bourjos had an RBI triple, then scored on a fielder's choice to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.

The Phillies challenged that third run, as manager Ryne Sandberg claimed that Carlos Ruiz may have gotten the tag down on Bourjos on a throw home by Ryan Howard. It was a fruitless challenge from the start, as the run stood after a surprisingly long 2 1/2 minute delay. The Cards tacked on two more runs in the inning, had four in the frame, and didn't look back.

Harang finished the night with six innings pitched, allowing nine hits, five earned runs and a walk while striking out six.

Carlos Martinez started and went six innings, scattered six hits, surrendered two earned runs, and walked three while striking out three.

And, if you were fortunate enough to be tuned to the ESPN broadcast this evening, you had the opportunity to see John Mozeliak looking far too dapper in a bowtie, Mike Matheny boring us to death, and a five-man broadcast crew that had me wanting to flip on Naked Gun to see Dr. Joyce Brothers.

But, for my own listening pleasure, there didn't seem to be a ton of ignorant Cole Hamels discussion. So you take the good with the bad.

For the Phillies offensively, Chase Utley was once again the recipient of some bad BABIP in the 7th inning, as Bourjos made a running grab which took a run away and prevented Utley from extra bases.

While the Cardinals' 5th inning featured four runs, the Phillies' 5th featured nothing but trouble. Despite the first two runners reaching base (including Harang on a walk), Ben Revere bunted up the third base line. Yadier Molina pounced, threw to third, and got Freddy Galvis on a force out.

Odubel Herrera singled later in the inning to bring home Harang, a play in which Revere, who reached on his failed bunt, got a bit too frisky on the bases.

Revere rounded third, Jason Heyward threw home, and hilarity ensued. Revere tripped trying to retreat to third, got himself into a rundown, and was tagged out.

Ryan Howard did go yard in the fourth inning for his fourth homer of the season, but fell victim to the shift for most of the evening.

The Phillies have one last game tomorrow afternoon in Heaven before heading off to Miami to play in the amusement park. David Buchanan will get the ball for the road team. Tim Cooney will toe the rubber for the Redbirds. And somewhere tonight, Domonic Brown will weep.

Source: FanGraphs