MIAMI – Delmon Young homered for the second time in as many games and Cliff Lee pitched his 12th career shutout in leading the Phillies to a 3-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.
After a miserable showing behind Cole Hamels in the first game of the series, the Phillies won the next two to run their record to 23-24 heading into Friday night’s NL East clash with Washington.
This is the first time since April 15 that the Phils have been a game under .500. Over the last month, they had gotten to two games under .500 eight times. This was the first time they won the next game. The Phils haven’t been .500 since April 14.
The Phillies had 12 hits in the game. They had 15 in Tuesday night’s win.
Starting pitching report
Lee (5-2) pitched his first shutout since 2011. He allowed just three singles (two were infield hits), walked two and struck out five. Lee also had two hits.
Lee pitched out of big trouble in the second inning when he got Nick Green to ground into a 5-2-3 double play with the bases loaded.
Miami right-hander Kevin Slowey couldn’t answer the bell for the sixth inning because of a strained lat muscle. That was a break for the Phils because Slowey allowed just six hits and a run over five innings. He walked none and struck out six.
Slowey has been tough on the Phils this season. He’s given up just two runs in 17 1/3 innings against them.
At the plate
A day after hitting a 398-foot homer to left-center, Delmon Young smacked an 0-2 fastball 400 feet to left-center in the fourth inning for his third homer of the season. The solo shot gave the Phils a 1-0 lead.
The Phils had some two-out success in the sixth after Young reached base on an infield single. Domonic Brown followed with a triple to deep center and Freddy Galvis drove home Brown with a single. Galvis started his second straight game in place of Chase Utley.
Bullpen report
Lee completed the game in 115 pitches and gave the Phillies’ bullpen the night off.
Marlins reliever Wade LeBlanc allowed five hits and two runs in 1 2/3 innings.
In the field
Young had a terrific game in right field. He made a nice running catch on Marcell Ozuna’s sinking liner in the fourth and gunned down Chris Coghlan from near the warning track as Coghlan tried to advance to second on a fly ball in the fifth.
Injury report
Utley is headed for an MRI and possibly the disabled list. Mike Adams should be ready to go Tuesday or Wednesday. Details here (see story).
Transaction
After the game, the Phillies sent reliever Phillippe Aumont to Triple A so he could get more work. The Phillies will add a reliever before Friday night's game. It is believed they will recall right-hander Mike Stutes.
Up next
The Phillies are off Thursday. They open a three-game series against the Nationals in Washington on Friday night. Kyle Kendrick (4-2, 2.82) and Jordan Zimmerman (7-2, 1.62) will be the pitchers in that game.
Jonathan Pettibone (3-0, 3.00) opposes Dan Haren (4-5, 5.54) on Saturday night. Cole Hamels (1-7, 4.45) pitches Sunday afternoon. The Nats have not named a starter for Sunday.