Phillies 4, Giants 2: What a find Drew Smyly has been

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So far, so good on the Drew Smyly reclamation project. The left-hander pitched seven shutout innings in his second Phillies start Tuesday night and led the team to a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park.

Smyly was signed by the Phillies less than two weeks ago after opting out of his minor-league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. He had previously been designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers.

Smyly, who had an ERA over 8.00 with Texas, is enjoying a rebound with the Phillies. In two starts, he has totaled 13 innings and allowed just eight hits and one run.

The Phillies entered the night one game back in the NL wild-card race. They are 56-50.

Something to Smyl about

Smyly scattered four hits, walked one batter and struck out five.

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He threw 103 pitches, including 36 four-seam fastballs, 29 cutters and 37 curveballs. The curveball produced nine swing and misses.

A long time coming

Pitching deep into games has been a big problem for Phillies starters. The Phils had not had a starting pitcher other than Aaron Nola go seven innings since Zach Eflin went eight in a 2-0 win over Arizona on June 12.

Nola did it four times in that span.

Hoskins heating?

Rhys Hoskins has just four homers this month, but two of them have come in the last two games, both wins. It would be huge if Hoskins’ power bat heated up as the calendar turned to August.

Hoskins hit a two-run homer against Tyler Beede in the bottom of the fifth to give the Phils a 4-0 lead. Bryce Harper, who walked three times, was on base.

Take the run

Good at-bat by Maikel Franco with runners on second and third and no outs in the fourth. With the infield back, he took a contact approach and got the first run of the game home on a ground ball to second. Rookie Adam Haseley followed with an RBI double. Haseley has seven hits in his last four games.

A struggle

One day after drawing praise for his work out of the bullpen from general manager Matt Klentak, Nick Pivetta surrendered two solo homers in the eighth as the Phillies lost the shutout bid. Hector Neris closed out the two-run lead in the ninth.

Demotions, transactions, moves

Eflin was demoted to the bullpen. The Phils signed Minnesota castoff Blake Parker. All in a day’s work for a team trying to piece together a pitching staff. (see story)

Up next

Vince Velasquez (3-5, 4.46) pitches against Jeff Samardzija (7-8, 3.95) on Wednesday night.

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