Originally featured on Phillies Nation.
Looking at the final score of the Phillies and Rays game, it doesn't appear that there was a pitchers duel in the process. One bad inning, and a former teammate, hurt the Phillies in their 7-1 loss.
In the second inning, Pat Burrell hit a two-run home run to give the Rays an early lead. That was all Joe Blanton gave up in seven innings. He allowed six hits, struck out ten, and walked two. The only problem was that Matt Garza was better.
Garza hadn't pitched past the sixth inning in his previous three starts, but Wednesday was different. He struck out five of the first seven batters he faced. He pitched eight innings only surrendering one run, a Jayson Werth solo shot. Garza gave up three hits, walked three, and struck out seven.
It was still 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth. Blanton exited, handing it over to the bullpen. However, J.C Romero got into a jam with no outs and runners at the corner. Willy Aybar hit a shallow fly ball to Matt Stairs. Taking a chance with one of the fastest runners in the game, B.J Upton tug up. With a great block by Carlos Ruiz, Stairs nailed Upton at the plate.
It looked like Romero would escape the inning when Pat Burrell hit an soft grounder to Jimmy Rollins. Rollins nonchalantly tossed the ball to Chase Utley covering second, only for Ben Zobrist to be safe and a run to score. Rollins made a huge mistake by not throwing to first, especially with a slow runner in Burrell.
The Rays continued to pound runs on the Phillies, winning 7-1.
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