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| Kendrick stymies A's as Phils snap skid PHILADELPHIA 4, OAKLAND 0 |
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By Al Barba PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel does not like to tinker with his lineup, but he had to do something. With his club mired in a team-wide slump and in the midst of a season-high six-game losing streak, the Philadelphia skipper decided to make some changes to his lineup for Wednesday's contest against the Oakland Athletics at McAfee Coliseum. And while it didn't exactly produce the offensive explosion Manuel was seeking, it did provide a much-needed victory as the Phillies defeated the Athletics, 4-0. Philadelphia collected 11 hits and received a stellar outing from Kendrick, who allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four in a career-high eight innings. J.C. Romero finished the game by pitching a scoreless ninth. "I was throwing fastballs in there for strikes and my sinker was good tonight," Kendrick said. "My fastball command in was really good tonight, I threw my slider for strikes and my sinker was working." Kendrick (7-3), who was coming off a tough outing in which he allowed six runs in three innings against Boston last Wednesday, held Oakland hitless through 4 2/3 innings before Jack Hannahan doubled with one out in the fifth inning. The hit snapped a streak of 11 consecutive batters retired by Kendrick. "He threw strikes and was working both sides of the plate and mixed in a little slider. He pitched real well against the lefties. They were hitting (.338) against him and he did a good job against them," Manuel said referring to the six left-handed hitters in the Oakland lineup. Kendrick out-dueled Athletics lefthander Greg Smith (4-6) who suffered the loss after surrendering seven hits, four runs, walking two and striking out two in 5 2/3 innings. "It was a battle. I fought off a triple with one out and kept them from scoring. I thought I made some good pitches," Smith said. "Feliz' triple I thought that was a good pitch and some other ones I didn't make good pitches but the defense helped me out. "For some reason I'm fighting myself or over thinking. It just feels like I wasn't myself for some reason. Maybe it's the grind of the season, we're in the middle of the season and I just need to keep getting worked on and go out there and try." Chase Utley benefited the most from the lineup change as he went 4-for-5 and was a home run shy of the cycle after being moved from his customary third spot in the order to second. "We haven't really played that well. I think a lot of the credit has to go to our pitcher Kyle Kendrick. He was mixing his pitches well, throwing strikes and keeping them off balance. So it was good to see that performance" Utley said. "I wasn't really trying to do too much. The game was still fairly close and I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball." The new lineup paid immediate dividends as Jayson Werth, who normally bats down in the order, walked to lead off the game. Utley followed with a single and, after a double-steal, Pat Burrell produced a sacrifice fly to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Philadelphia scored twice in the fourth on an RBI triple by Pedro Feliz and sacrifice fly by Chris Coste. Coste drove in the Phillies' final run with a run-scoring single in the sixth that scored Shane Victorino, who reached on a two-out bunt single. Manuel said it he isn't sure if he is going to use the same lineup in the series finale against Oakland's Rich Harden. "I doubt it. That lineup could have scored more runs. We scored four runs but we could have had a lot more We did good enough to win," Manuel said. Oakland's best scoring opportunity came in the eighth when Kurt Suzuki opened the frame with single and, after Carlos Gonzalez flew out, Daric Barton followed with a single to put runners at first and second with one out. However, Kendrick struck out Mark Ellis looking and retired Ryan Sweeney on a comebacker to end the threat. The Phillies entered the game having won 10 of Kendrick's last 12 starts. |
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