PHILADELPHIA The Phillies didn't act like a wounded teamWednesday night despite having lost two frontline players to injury.
Instead, they absorbed a few more bruises from Cubs starterDanny Jackson, then flattened Jackson and lefty reliever KenPatterson on their way to an 11-3 victory.
Outfielder Len Dykstra is out at least two weeks with a fracturenear the left wrist he suffered in Tuesday's game, and pitcher JoseDeJesus might be out for the season with a rotator cuff tear.
Rookie Ruben Amaro, filling in for Dykstra, took a Jackson pitchin the thigh leading off first inning before a Veterans Stadium crowdof 16,328.
Jackson (0-1) hit another Phillie in the fifth - and an umpirein between - but worse were the six runs in four-plus innings heallowed after his teammates had staked him to a 3-0 lead in thefirst.
"I felt good and I felt I was making the pitches I had to,"Jackson said. "I gave up seven hits and only two were hit hard. Ihad three mistake pitches. Unfortunately I can't do anything abouttwo swinging bunts on the third-base line and neither can ourdefense. Things just didn't go my way."
Ex-White Sox Patterson couldn't have had a worse Cub debut,giving up four runs in two-thirds of an inning. Three Phillieshomered off him, including rookie center fielder Amaro, who went3-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and three runs batted in.
The Phils hadn't hit three homers in one inning since April 12,1989, when Von Hayes, Mike Schmidt and Ron Jones did it againstMontreal pitcher Kevin Gross.
In the first inning, Phils starter Tommy Greene (1-0) looked tobe headed for an early shower.
He walked Shawon Dunston and Sammy Sosa to start the game, andboth scored when Ryne Sandberg powered a 2-2 pitch over theleft-field wall for his first home run of the season.
Sandberg added a single and double later. With his 1-for-3 gameTuesday, Sandberg, usually a slow starter, is 4-for-7.
He was the only Cub to solve Greene after the first.
"We had Greene on the ropes and he struggled, then he settleddown and pitched a great game," manager Jim Lefebvre said. "Dannyjust couldn't seem to make the pitches he needed to make.
"Maybe he was a little nervous the first time out. It justlooked like he just made some bad pitches, and we let it slip away."
Greene had seven strikeouts in the first four innings and eightin seven innings of work. He walked none after the three in thefirst.
Things were just the opposite for the Cubs.
Jackson struggled from the first when, after hitting Amaro, heloaded the bases with one out with a walk to Dave Hollins and aninfield single by John Kruk. Jackson escaped with only one runscoring.
In the third, a Jackson pitch struck home plate umpire TomHallion in the right arm, dropping him to the ground in pain andrequiring him to work the rest of the game with a pad on the rightforearm.
Amaro led off the third with a double and scored, then deliveredanother double in the fourth to cap a three-run inning as the Philstook the lead and chased Jackson.
Bob Scanlan retired Dale Murphy on a strikeout, got Dale Sveumto fly out and John Kruk trying to steal.
But the nightmare for Cub lefties resumed when Patterson tookthe mound to start the sixth, allowing home runs to first batter WesChamberlain, Amaro and Dave Hollins.
Patterson retired only two batters before Kruk singled andmanager Jim Lefebvre called in right-hander Dave Smith, who ended theinning.
Smith didn't go unscathed, allowing a run on two walks and asingle.
Paul Assenmacher was the only lefty to hold the Phils in check,working a 1-2-3 eighth.
No comments:
Post a Comment