By Sports Network
The Sports Network
The Philadelphia Phillies are back at home for a six-game residency and will host the National League East-rival Atlanta Braves tonight in the first of three straight games at Citizens Bank Park.
The NL East-leading Phillies completed a seven-game road trip with a 4-3 mark and dropped two of three at Pittsburgh to close out the trek, including Thursday’s 3-2 setback in the series finale. Phils starter J.A. Happ was on the way to his 11th victory of the season until giving up a two-run homer to Garrett Jones with two outs in the eighth inning.
Happ (10-3) allowed three runs and seven hits in eight innings of work, while Paul Bako homered and finished with two hits for the Phillies, who are seven games ahead of both Atlanta and Florida in the division. Jimmy Rollins had three hits and scored a run in defeat.
“I felt like it was my game,” said Happ, who was aiming to become the first Phillies rookie to win 11 games since Bob Walk in 1980. “I could taste it. That’s the way it is, make a mistake and I paid for it.”
The defending champion Phillies, who will also host San Francisco on the homestand, will send Pedro Martinez to the mound for the fourth time this season. Philadelphia has won each of his outings this season and posted a 9-7 victory over the New York Mets in his most recent start on August 23. Martinez allowed four runs over a season-high six innings against his former team and struck out five to improve to 2-0 with a 5.14 earned run average.
Martinez, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, is 11-10 with a 3.70 ERA in 30 career meetings (23 starts) with the Braves.
Atlanta will open a seven-game road trip Friday against Philadelphia and Florida, and recently split a six-game homestand. The Braves salvaged the finale of a three-game set versus the San Diego Padres at Turner Field with Thursday’s 9-1 victory in the series finale thanks to seven shutout innings from starting pitcher Javier Vazquez.
Vazquez scattered five hits and struck out six batters without issuing a walk to snap a two-start losing streak.
“It felt good. Obviously the guys put up a lot of runs in the early innings, and that makes it a lot easier,” said Vazquez. “We surely needed to win this game. It’s been pretty frustrating here.”
Matt Diaz had three hits and two RBI and Adam LaRoche homered for the Braves, who are also tied with Florida at 4 1/2 games off the lead in the National League Wild Card race.
Atlanta will also visit the Marlins on the road swing and is expected to send rookie Tommy Hanson to the hill this evening. Hanson is 4-0 with a 2.81 earned run average in his last four starts and defeated Florida the previous time out on August 22. He allowed three runs in seven innings of a 4-3 victory and struck out seven to improve to 9-2 with a 3.12 ERA in 14 outings.
Hanson, who has fanned at least seven hitters in three straight trips to the hill, is 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA as the visitor this season. The right-hander has never faced the Phillies.
Atlanta has won eight of 12 matchups with Philadelphia this season, including a 4-2 ledger at Citizens Bank Park.