Instant Replay: Giants 9, Phillies 2

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The Phillies were back to their losing ways on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park, taking a tough 9-2 defeat to the San Francisco Giants.

It was the Phillies’ ninth loss in their last 10 games following an eight-game losing streak during the most recent road trip.

At 50-57, the Phillies fell 12½ games behind the Braves in the NL East.

Against the Giants, the Phillies were doomed by a shaky pitching performance from right-hander Kyle Kendrick, who allowed a run before he even had a second out and was down four runs before the Phillies even had a chance to hit.

Starting pitching report
It didn’t go well for Kendrick, who turned in his shortest -- and worst -- outing of the season. Kendrick lasted just two innings and faced five hitters in the third inning. He allowed seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, a walk and a hit batsman. The Giants sent eight hitters to the plate in the four-run first inning and batted around in the three-run third against Kendrick.

Kendrick had two-strike counts on six hitters and four of them reached base.

With the loss, Kendrick is 9-8 and his ERA spiked to 4.29.

For the Giants, Chad Gaudin ate up seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits and one walk. Gaudin had five strikeouts and threw 16 first-pitch strikes to the 26 hitters he faced to improve to 5-2.

Bullpen report
Three days after his spot start during the 10-0 loss in Detroit, lefty Raul Valdes was back on the mound with the task of gobbling up a few innings. Wednesday’s outing against the Giants went much better.

In three innings, Valdes allowed just one hit and had five strikeouts. That’s quite a difference from the nine runs and 12 hits he allowed in just 3 2/3 innings last Saturday.

J.C. Ramirez pitched two innings, allowing a pair of runs on two solo homers in the seventh. Jake Diekman and Luis Garcia pitched a scoreless inning each to close it out.

At the plate
The Phillies cobbled together just four hits and went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position against Gaudin.

The Phillies’ lone run came in the first when Chase Utley eked one just over the railing in right field for his 14th homer of the season in the first inning and knocked in Jimmy Rollins in the eighth.

Michael Young, who remained with the Phillies past the 4 p.m. trade deadline (see story), picked up a pair of hits for the second straight game.

Brett Pill went 3 for 4 for the Giants with a solo homer in the seventh. Marco Scutaro, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Roger Kieschnick also had a pair of hits.

For Kieschnick, the two hits were the first hits of his big-league career.

Asche starts
Cody Asche made a quick ascent to the majors on the strength of his bat (see story). So doesn’t it just figure that he flashed some leather at the hot corner in his first big-league start?

Asche made a diving stab of a hard shot hit down the line by Hunter Pence and still had the ability to gather himself in foul ground and make a strong throw to first to get the out. In the second inning, Asche fielded another hard grounder to start an inning-ending double play.

Though he made some stellar plays in the field, Asche committed his first error in the sixth inning when he rushed a throw to first hoping to cut down Sandoval.

At the plate, Asche went 0 for 4 with a pair of groundouts and a pair of flyouts.

Up next
The Phillies and Giants wrap up the series on Thursday night when Cole Hamels (4-13, 4.09) takes on Matt Cain (6-6, 4.79). Hamels is 5-3 with a 4.14 ERA in 12 regular-season starts against the Giants. He last faced them on July 21, 2012, taking a no-decision after pitching 7 2/3 innings and allowing five runs on three homers.

Cain is 1-4 with a 3.72 ERA in nine career starts against the Phillies. However, Cain outdueled Hamels in Game 3 of the 2010 NLCS in San Francisco for a 3-0 win. Cain gave up just two hits in seven innings, while Hamels allowed a pair of earned runs and four hits in six innings.

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