In what was a bizarre game and draining night, the Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates started with a rain delay that lasted 1:31 and didn't finish up until 1:06 in the morning. Starling Marte's seeing eye single in the bottom of the 13th inning finally ended the proceedings as Pittsburgh escaped with a 1-0 win. Familiar face Antonio Bastardo picked up the win and Dustin McGowan got the loss for the Phils.
The Phillies (0-9 with RISP) finished with 11 hits and had a bunch of opportunities to win the game in the late innings, but so did the Pirates (17 runners left on base). It was just one of those nights for both teams. Jonathan Papelbon was the only reliever the Phillies didn't use, as McGowan was the team's seventh pitcher to head out on the mound. Here's what I saw:
Offense
1. In the first inning, Maikel Franco was hit with a Jeff Locke curveball on the same right foot that he fouled a ball off earlier in the week. Not the fleetest of foot to begin with (translation: he’s slow), Franco was really running the bases gingerly initially. He stayed in the game and went 1-4 with a walk, extending his hitting streak to 10 games.
2. The Phillies somehow saw seven runners reach base against Locke in the first three innings and they weren’t able to push even one across. This was a huge missed opportunity, because the bats went completely silent after that. The worst offense in the league was true to form.
3. You could argue that Ryne Sandberg missed two opportunities to pinch-hit Ryan Howard late. Instead, he went with an ice-cold Chase Utley in the pitcher’s spot with a runner in scoring position in the 9th and stuck with Darin Ruf with a runner on third and one out in the 10th. Ruf, who is hitting .156 against righties, struck out against Pirates reliever Jared Hughes. What Sandberg might argue is that Ruf did have two hits before that at-bat.
4. Howard would late pinch-hit and ground out.
Starting Pitcher
1. This was our first look at journeyman starter Kevin Correia, who hadn’t pitched in a game setting in a couple of weeks after opting out of his contract in Triple-A Sacramento (San Francisco). He was very good, delivering a strong performance and a pleasant surprise.
2. What stood out about Correia’s start is how little trouble he faced. Besides leaving a couple of men on base in the bottom of the sixth for Elvis Araujo to deal with, he was largely cruising along. Correia’s last major-league appearance was September 22nd of last year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he didn’t pitch like it tonight. His final line: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 4 K, 1 BB.
Bullpen
1. One of my favorite Tom McCarthy-isms is, “That’s some good pitching.” The phrase is reserved for when a Phillies pitcher, either a reliever or a starter dealing deep into the game, skillfully works his way out of a jam. T-Mac brought it out when Luis Garcia struck out Starling Marte with two runners on in the seventh inning.
The good pitching went like this: 97 mph FB, 97 mph FB, ball, ball, sharp 88 mph slider for the K.
2. Ken Giles’ adrenaline was through the roof. To put it mildly, his eighth inning was a roller coaster. After Giles’ throwing error allowed Josh Harrison to advance to second base with two outs, he was instructed to offer lefty Pedro Alvarez a free pass.
Giles was visibly upset about the intentional walk order, and you could say he “showed up” both Sandberg and pitching coach Bob McClure. After barely escaping a bases-loaded jam with a key strikeout, both Sandberg and McClure had some heated words for Giles when he got back in the dugout. TV cameras showed Giles angrily barking back at McClure, which was both mildly uncomfortable and very entertaining at the same time. What say you?
Defense
1. Correia pitched well, but he was hit twice on sharp liners right back up the middle. The Phillies were able to record an out the second time when… well, when this happened:
Andres Blanco would go on to make a more conventional great defensive play later in the game.
Miscellaneous
1. Every game that you watch on television at PNC Park, count on this guy appearing on your screen at least once:
You gotta hand it to him. He was there when they were terrible, too.
Up Next
The Battle of Pennsylvania will continue tomorrow afternoon at 4:05 p.m., a starting time sure to please any of the newspaper scribes used to writing on deadline. Sean O’Sullivan (1-4, 4.96 ERA), who gave the Phillies a quality start in last Sunday’s win over the Giants, will be opposed by Gerrit Cole (9-2, 1.73 ERA), who just so happens to be filthy at 24 years old.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann