Phillies fail to support Lee in loss to Reds

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CINCINNATI -- The Phillies are up to their frustrating old tricks again, not scoring enough runs to back solid pitching efforts from Cliff Lee.

Lee made 30 starts last season. The Phillies scored three or fewer runs in 20 of them.

So far this year, the run-support problem is even worse.

Lee has made three starts. The Phils have scored just two runs in two of those games. Lee was able to beat the Braves with that meager support in the third game of the season, but Monday night his strong effort against the Cincinnati Reds went for naught in a 4-2 loss (see Instant Replay).

“That’s baseball,” said Lee, who allowed just two runs in seven innings. “It happens.”

Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo joined Lee in a fast-moving pitchers’ duel. The right-hander didn’t allow a run for 7 2/3 innings until Chase Utley, getting a night off from the starting lineup, tied the game with a two-run pinch-hit homer with two outs in the top of the eighth.

Needing to keep things in check in the bottom of the inning, the Phillies put the ball in reliever Jeremy Horst’s hand, but that move didn’t work. Horst, who had started warming up when Lee was pinch-hit for, allowed a swinging-bunt hit and a flare double to right before Brandon Phillips put the Reds ahead with a two-run single against Mike Adams.

Adams was supposed to fix the Phillies’ leaky eighth inning, but he was not called upon to start the frame because Horst was warm and ready. Instead, Adams was brought in after Horst had issued an intentional walk to load the bases.

“Utley hit a home run with two outs,” manager Charlie Manuel explained. “We didn’t really have very much time to get someone in. Horst hadn’t pitched in five days and he was ready. Actually, with Adams, we’re using him a lot. I’m concerned about him. We were kind of hesitant [to use him]. Also, with the way their lineup was with left-handed hitters coming up at the top of the order, we wanted a lefty. When the guy hit the swinging bunt and then the flare into right field -- that broke everything loose. It wasn’t like Horst did badly. Actually, it was bad luck.”

After the Reds took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, it was ballgame time. Aroldis Chapman got the save. His final pitch was a 100-mph fastball by Ryan Howard.

The loss dropped the Phillies to 6-7.

The Reds are also 6-7.

The Phillies had just five hits in the game. Utley’s homer was the only extra-base hit.

Four games into this trip, the Phils have scored just eight runs. Maybe Carlos Ruiz and Delmon Young will help the offense when they are ready at the end of the month.

Leadoff man Ben Revere is down to .222 and his on-base percentage is a woeful .276. Revere could be moved to eighth when Ruiz and Young are ready.

While Revere has struggled lately at the plate, his defense remains top shelf. He made two sensational catches in the first three innings. The first was a running, twisting, diving, over-the-shoulder robbery of Todd Frazier in the second inning, the second a wall-climber on Ryan Hanigan in the third.

Lee called the catch on Frazier “the best I’ve seen in a while. He had to go up and out to get it. It was huge. It saved a run.”

Before the game, Phillies players watched television coverage of the horrific events in Boston where three people were killed in a bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Revere was so moved by the tragic event that he wrote "Pray For Boston" on a piece of tape on his glove. The glove had some magic in it during the game and Revere had seven putouts.

“I’d like to get a Gold Glove,” he said. “I’m busting my tail for that.”

Lee had a difficult inning in the seventh. He allowed two hits and his first walk of the season. He also threw a wild pitch that led to a run and made an error. With little run support, he couldn’t afford an inning like that. Utley eventually got him off the hook, but the Reds rallied against Horst and Adams to claim the win.

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