Final
Phils' Lee vies to solve road woes in St. Louis
Jun 22, 2011 - 2:45 PM (Sports Network) - Time and time again this season, Cliff Lee has delighted a Philadelphia crowd that continues to dream about another championship.The road has been less kind to the former Cy Young Award winner.
Lee hopes to pick up his first road victory in over two months this evening when he starts the Phillies' second contest of three straight versus the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The 32-year-old Lee has won each of his last five home starts and is an excellent 6-1 with a 1.88 earned run average in nine games in Philadelphia this season. He has given up just one run and struck out 21 batters over 24 innings of a three-start win streak -- all at home -- and is 5-1 over his past six starts.
However, the lone loss in that span is also his only road start since May 21 and Lee was hit for six runs over 5 1/3 innings at Washington on May 31. He fell to 1-4 with a 5.35 ERA in six outings as the guest this season. Included in that span is a setback at St. Louis on May 16, one in which the left-hander walked a career-high six batters over 6 1/3 innings of a 3-1 loss. Lee struck out four and wasn't pleased with some of the calls behind the plate.
"I felt like I threw a lot of strikes that were called balls, but whatever, it is what it is," Lee said after falling to 2-1 with a 2.11 ERA lifetime versus the Cards.
Lee will try to duplicate his last outing on Thursday versus the Marlins. He threw his second shutout of the season and seventh of his career in that one, scattering two hits and a pair of walks in a 3-0 triumph that moved him to 7-5 with a season-low 3.12 ERA in 15 starts this season.
The Arkansas product carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and also roped two hits at the plate, including an RBI double.
"Anytime you can go nine innings and they don't score, you've got to be happy with that," Lee said. "It feels good to give the team a chance to win and contribute."
Lee will look to pitch the Phils to just their third victory at Busch Stadium in their last eight games there after they took Tuesday's opener, 10-2, after a bizarre eighth inning that saw the club score nine runs and send 14 men to the plate.
The frame didn't feature a hitting clinic by Philadelphia though. Down 2-1, the Phillies got the game-tying run across when Placido Polanco was hit with the bases loaded. Ben Francisco later drove in the go-ahead run with a single, while Carlos Ruiz and Michael Martinez both drew bases-loaded walks.
"I don't know what happened," said St. Louis manager Tony La Russa of the 43- minute frame. "It was just one of those days."
Polanco was forced to exit the game after being hit on the hand, but X-rays were negative and he is day-to-day.
Ruiz finished 4-for-4 and both Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley drove in two runs for the Phillies, who have won nine of their last 11 and still lead the Braves by 4 1/2 games for first place in the NL East.
Skip Schumaker had put the Cardinals ahead with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh before the bullpen imploded. In their first game without Albert Pujols, the Cards lost for the eighth time in 10 contests and fell a half-game behind the Brewers for the top spot in the NL Central.
Pujols, who suffered a fractured left arm following a collision at first base on Sunday, was placed on the disabled list Tuesday for just the third time in his career and is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. Lance Berkman got the start at first base in Pujols' absence.
The Cardinals will look for Kyle Lohse to get on track in tonight's start as he has given up four runs in each of his last three outings, going 0-1 in that span.
After a loss in Milwaukee on June 10, Lohse did not factor into the decision of a 7-4 setback at Washington on Thursday. The right-hander pitched six innings and yielded three homers.
Lohse, 32, is 7-3 with a 2.88 ERA in 14 starts this season and 2-3 with a 4.00 ERA in eight career starts against the Phillies, who he pitched with during the 2007 season when they began their run of four straight National League East titles.
- PHILADELPHIA: 4
ST. LOUIS: 0
Final
Jun 22 10:34 PM - Chase Utley sacrifice fly to left scored Shane Victorino with two out. None on and Ryan Howard due up.
Phillies 4, Cardinals 0 Top 9, 2 OutsJun 22 10:24 PM - Ryan Howard one-out, two-run Home Run (16) to left scored Chase Utley. Placido Polanco due up.
Phillies 3, Cardinals 0 Top 4, 1 OutJun 22 9:08 PM - Jimmy Rollins lead-off Home Run (7) to right. Shane Victorino due up.
Phillies 1, Cardinals 0 Top 4, 0 OutsJun 22 9:05 PM - PHILADELPHIA: 0
ST. LOUIS: 0
Top 1, 0 Outs
Jun 22 8:17 PM
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