PHOENIX – Miguel Montero lined the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth inning off the right-field foul pole to break a tie and help lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 3-2 win over the Phillies on Friday night.
The Phillies have lost three in a row, including the first two of this series. They have scored just three runs the last two nights.
The Phils got something going in the ninth, but came up short. They got the first two men on base on an error and a single. The runners moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Arizona reliever David Hernandez then retired Laynce Nix and Jimmy Rollins to end the game. They Phils finished 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
The Phils are 16-21 on the season.
Starting pitching report
Tyler Cloyd, filling in for Roy Halladay, pitched well in his 2013 big-league debut. He allowed just two hits and two runs over 6 1/3 innings. Cloyd allowed a two-out RBI double to Eric Chavez in the first inning. He did not allow another hit until the seventh. Arizona turned that hit into the tying run.
Cloyd was sent back to Triple A after the game and reliever Justin De Fratus was recalled. Because of off days, the Phillies can go with four starters the next two times through the rotation.
Right-hander Ian Kennedy allowed two Phillies’ runs in the first inning, but none the remainder of his seven innings.
Bullpen report
Montero’s go-ahead homer came on Mike Adams’ first pitch.
An inning earlier, Arizona scored the tying run on a two-out hit by Martin Prado off Antonio Bastardo.
Bastardo entered with one out in the seventh, a runner on first and the Phillies up a run. The runner, Cody Ross, moved up on Jason Kubel’s long fly ball to center. Ross then scored the tying run on a single by Prado. Manager Charlie Manuel chose to have the lefty Bastardo pitch to the right-handed hitting Prado with left-handed hitting Montero on deck. Montero entered the game hitting .198 overall and .235 against lefties.
Will Harris and Tony Sipp combined on three outs in the eighth for Arizona to keep the game tied at 2-2. Hernandez got the save.
At the plate
Rollins smacked the first pitch of the game for a homer, his second of the season and first since April 7. Rollins has 44 homers leading off a game, tying him with Brady Anderson for fourth-most all-time.
The Phils’ last 14 homers have all been solo shots.
Domonic Brown added an RBI single in the first and the Phils got nothing the rest of the way.
Ryan Howard hit a 405-foot fly ball to center for an out in the fifth inning. It would have been a two-run homer in a number of parks.
Prado’s game-tying hit against Bastardo capped an eight-pitch at-bat. He had been hitless in his last 29 at-bats with a runner in scoring position.
Hey, fans
Roy Halladay has a message for you (see story).
Up next
Cliff Lee (3-2, 3.26) looks to build on his win at San Francisco on Saturday night when he takes on Arizona right-hander Trevor Cahill (2-3, 2.80).