The Philadelphia Phillies rebounded from an embarrassing loss with a victory over one of the hotter teams in all of baseball. They'll try to make it two in a row on Tuesday night in the middle contest of a three- game series against the San Francisco Giants.
The Phillies had lost four of six, including a 14-2 thrashing at the hands of the Miami Marlins on Sunday, before putting together a solid all-around effort in a 6-2 victory over the Giants on Monday.
Cliff Lee hurled eight innings of two-run ball, yielding just five hits, while Michael Young had three hits and drove in two runs. Domonic Brown added his sixth homer of the season, one that landed in McCovey Cove.
"We underperformed this first month, and it's time for us to turn it on. Tonight was a good start in that direction," Lee said.
Hunter Pence smacked a solo homer and a double among his three hits for the Giants, who had their six-game winning streak snapped. Pence was facing the Phillies for the first time since they dealt him to the Giants last July.
Madison Bumgarner allowed a season-high five runs on eight hits and two walks over six innings to pick up his first loss of the year (3-1).
"Pence had a great night, but it was a rough night for the rest of the group," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Giants outfielder Angel Pagan missed his second straight game due to a strained right hamstring, but could return to action tonight. He would face Phillies right-hander Kyle Kendrick, winner in two straight starts and three consecutive decisions.
After recording the first shutout of his career on April 26 at the New York Mets, Kendrick beat the Miami Marlins on Thursday by holding them to a pair of runs -- one in the first inning -- on seven hits and two walks over seven innings of work.
"I struggled the first couple innings, but as the game went on I felt better," Kendrick said. "My secondary pitches were a lot better later in the game. I battled tonight and got a nice win."
Kendrick, 28, is 3-1 on the season with a 2.43 earned run average and is 1-1 in his career versus the Giants with a 2.89 ERA in five meetings. Two of those have been starts.
Tim Lincecum aims to balance out his up-and-down season as he takes his turn on the mound Tuesday night for the Giants.
Following a tough-luck 2-1 loss at the San Diego Padres on April 26, the former Cy Young Award winner was tagged for five runs on a season-high 10 hits in Arizona on Wednesday. Lincecum did strike out six without a walk and did not factor into the decision after the Giants rallied for a 9-6 win.
The 28-year-old righty stands at 2-1 through six starts on the season with a 4.41 ERA. He is 5-2 in 11 career meetings with the Phillies, notching a 3.00 ERA.
The Giants won four of six versus the Phillies a season ago, taking two of three at home from April 16-18.
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