Phils' Lee fires three-hitter, blanks Marlins
MIAMI -- Since the beginning of the 2012 season, Cliff Lee has received the third-lowest run support of any major league starter, receiving an average of 3.34 runs per outing.
He needed minimal support Wednesday at Marlins Park -- just one run would've been sufficient.
Lee pitched a shutout against the Miami Marlins, allowing just six batters to reach base -- three hits, two walks and one hit batter -- as the Philadelphia Phillies earned a 3-0 win in the rubber match of a three-game set.
In the 12th shutout of his career, Lee (5-2) struck out five while tossing 115 pitches. He faced the minimum in six of the nine innings.
"The last part of the game, especially when he got ahead of the hitter, he was making the right-handed hitters hit the ball to right field in this big ballpark," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "That right there is how you finish your games and keep your pitch count down, too."
The Marlins (13-34), the worst hitting team in baseball with a collective .224 batting average, were blanked for the ninth time this season, and they finished their nine-game homestand 2-7. They've scored one or fewer runs in 17 games.
Miami suffered another loss, too. Starting pitcher Kevin Slowey left with a left lat strain during warmup tosses before the top of the sixth inning.
Manager Mike Redmond came out to the mound to talk to Slowey, called the plate umpire over and took out his lineup card to make a double switch as he called for Wade LeBlanc to come out of the bullpen.
"I think they're calling it an intercostal left," Redmond said. "He thought that maybe he was going to work through it but got out there and felt it. We just wanted to make sure to we get him out of there. He seems to think he'll be all right. We'll re-evaluate him the next couple of days and see where he is."
Said Slowey: "I felt it on the last pitch of the fourth, a slider to Domonic Brown. I felt it grab a little bit in my left (scapula) area. I gave it that half-inning and went back out with mostly fastballs in the fifth.
"My hope was to go back out and throw he sixth and beyond because my pitch count was pretty low, but I didn't want to go out there and not give my team a chance to compete."
The Phillies (23-24) scored twice on LeBlanc after he replaced Slowey, expanding what had been a 1-0 lead. With two outs, Delmon Young hit an infield single, Brown's triple scored Young, and Freddy Galvis' single drove in Brown.
Slowey made one mistake pitch in his five innings, and that was the one he served up to a former Minnesota Twins teammate, and Young hit it over the left-center-field wall for a solo home run in the fourth. With two outs and ahead in the count 0-2, Slowey threw a sinker over the heart of the plate, and Young pounced on it, hitting it just to the left of Marlins Park's home run sculpture.
Young has homered two days in a row, the type of production Manuel was expecting to get in the middle of his lineup when the Phillies added the outfielder in the offseason.
"When we brought him over here, our people thought that he could help us hitting," Manuel said. "We always thought that he was a ribbie guy, and he's hit for a high average and he'll hit the ball out of the yard."
It was the only run given up by Slowey (1-5), who also struck out six and gave up six hits before exiting.
Lee not only tortured the Marlins with his commanding stuff on the mound, but he also had two hits. Joining Lee with multi-hit games on Philadelphia were Young, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
"It's the funnest part of the game to me, and I try to take it seriously and enjoy it," Lee said. "Anytime I can do anything to help the team win, I try to take it serious."
Although the Phillies totaled 12 hits as a team, they left nine men on base.
One of Howard's hits was probably the shortest double he'll ever hit. With the Marlins playing an extreme pull shift in his at-bat in the seventh inning, Howard tried to check his swing, made contact with a pitch and hit it slowly up the third base line. The ball trickled off the bag toward foul territory, and the entire process gave the not-so-fleet-afoot Howard enough time to reach second.
NOTES: 2B Chase Utley will undergo an MRI in Philadelphia on the Phillies' off day Thursday to examine his right rib cage, where he says he's been feeling pain and a burning sensation during batting practice. After taking Tuesday off, Utley was once again scratched from the lineup Wednesday. ... Marlins 1B Logan Morrison (knee) will play four more rehab games with Class A Jupiter -- three at first and one as a DH -- according to manager Mike Redmond. After those outings, he's scheduled to get bumped up to Double-A Jacksonville on Monday. The Marlins are hopeful he could rejoin the major league club by the end of next week. ... Phillies RHP Mike Adams (back) tossed a bullpen session. Adams will travel to Class A Clearwater to throw a live batting practice session Friday and appear in a game Monday. ... Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) took batting practice for the first time since going on the disabled list. There is still no timetable as to when Stanton could begin a rehab assignment.
