The Phillies' offense sputtered and wasn’t able to get going until it was too late in a 4-1 loss to the Pirates on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park.
With the loss, the Phillies dropped their first series at home in a month.
It took 8 1/3 innings for the Phillies to score, after lefty Francisco Liriano dazzled through eight innings, allowing just four hits and two men to reach second base. The Phillies finally broke through against the Pirates’ bullpen, with manager Clint Hurdle showing mercy by removing Liriano from the game.
A.J. Burnett fought through six innings for the Phillies, taking his eighth loss in his last 10 decisions.
Starting pitching report
Burnett struggled with his command, throwing 107 pitches and walking three, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch through six innings. He also allowed four runs on six hits but had a pair of 1-2-3 innings and seven strikeouts.
Burnett fell to 8-16, which is the most losses he's had his career. In 2010, Burnett went 10-15 with the Yankees. He has at least 10 losses in six of the last seven seasons and has at least eight losses in his last 10 seasons.
MLB
He also is the first Phillie to lose at least 16 games in a season since Mark Leiter lost 17 games in 1997.
With three starts remaining in the season, Burnett won’t be able to lose 20 games. However, he should surpass 210 innings for the second time of his career and for the first time since throwing 221 innings for Toronto in 2008.
Liriano struck out 12 over eight innings. He walked two and threw just 106 pitches.
Bullpen report
Luis Garcia, Antonio Bastardo and Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez tossed a scoreless inning each.
At the plate
The Phillies’ offense was quiet, picking up just six singles with just four runners reaching second base -- two on wild pitches.
The Pirates scored once in the second and three times in the sixth. Neil Walker led the offense with a pair of hits, including an RBI double.
Up next
The Phillies wrap up the homestand with a three-game set against the Miami Marlins beginning Friday night. The pitching matchups for the weekend series are:
Friday: Cole Hamels (8-7, 2.56) vs. Henderson Alvarez (10-6, 2.88)
Saturday: Kyle Kendrick (8-12, 4.83) vs. Brad Hand (3-6, 4.45)
Sunday: David Buchanan (6-7, 3.90) vs. Tom Koehler (9-9, 3.74).