W - Lowe (10-8), L - Lee (5-1)
On a rain shortened night, Cliff Lee didn't have his put-away stuff against the Braves. After holding an early lead, the Phil's lefty allowed three homers and six earned runs en route to his first loss with the Phillies. The Braves put on an offensive show, seeming to capitalize on every Phillies mistake, with 14 hits and four homers. They won the game in eight innings due to rain, by a final of 9-1.
It was bound to happen that Cliff Lee would return to Earth. He had been almost un-hittable to this point with the Phillies. But that all changed Saturday night against the Braves. Despite working ahead of almost every hitter, Lee surrendered big hits with two strikes, as he gave up the first three long balls as a Phillie. The offense didn't do much to support him and he really labored. On the night, he struck out five in five innings of work but allowed 10 hits and the decisive six earned runs.
Derek Lowe showed his normal, dominant stuff against the Phillies hitters. The Phils managed only a solo home run by Chase Utley and little else the rest of the way. Lowe induced one key double-play and the Phillies stranded 11 runners on base. That was the story of the night as Lowe went 5.2 innings and struck out five. He gave up the one earned run and only Utley managed to have a decent night at the plate, even though most of the starters had at least on hit.
This was an ugly one to watch, as the Braves blew out the Phillies. But it only counts as one loss in the standings and the Phils still have a chance to win the series. While the effort was not optimal for Lee, the Phillies can relax as he got one of his worst outings of the season out of the way. Hopefully the team can regroup and get back to pitching and hitting well as a team.
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