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Well, they tried.
A road trip that started with a brilliant Cole Hamels performance in St. Louis ended with a 7-5 defeat at the hands of the Braves in Atlanta Wednesday night. And, there were a whole lot of other losses mixed in the road trip, too.
The latest loss capped off a 3-7 road swing through St. Louis, Miami and Atlanta, with the Phils getting outscored 57-35. In this final loss to the Braves, the offense actually pounded out 12 hits, but left 10 runners on base, a running theme throughout the road trip. The Phillies went 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday, mildly improving upon the NL-worst .198 team batting average with runners in scoring position they sported coming into the game. But it wasn't enough.
With Chase Utley getting a second straight night off as part of his continuing "mental holiday," the offensive attack was led by leadoff hitter Ben Revere, who went 4-for-5 with three doubles and two runs scored, raising his average to .264. And Ryan Howard added three hits, including his 5th home run of the season.
#Phillies Howard now has 50 homers, 140 RBIs, 79 extra-base hits in 161 career games against the #Braves. His most HR and RBI vs. anyone
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) May 7, 2015
On the other side of the coin, the ridiculously cold Cody Asche went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. He's now hitting a ghastly .157 (11-for-70) since April 15. Man, he's even not hitting like Chase! They really are the same!
The Phils had a chance to tie or take the lead in the 9th after an RBI single by Darin Ruf, but Odubel Herrera, who had two hits on the night, struck out looking on a fastball with two runners on, sending the Phils to their 19th loss of the season.
Phils starter Jerome Williams got dinked and dunked a bit during his 4 1/3 innings of work, but still gave up six earned runs on eight hits, raising his ERA to 5.18 on the season. Coming into the game, Phils starters had a 5.09 ERA as a team, second-worst in the NL, only behind the Rockies.
Jerry Williams didn't help that at all against Atlanta.
The team will now get a much-needed off-day on Thursday as they get ready for a weekend series at Citizens Bank Park against the New York Mets, followed by four at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates and three with the Diamondbacks.
The Phillies are now 4-13 away from Philadelphia this season. Road warriors, they are not. Come on home, boys. You need the rest.
Source: FanGraphs