Padres hope to bounce back and take series from Phils

Published February 05, 2015

(SportsNetwork.com) - The San Diego Padres can take this four-game series versus the Philadelphia Phillies with a win Thursday evening at Petco Park.

The Padres won the first two installments of this set, but suffered a 5-2 loss Wednesday behind another disappointing start from Eric Stults. Stults allowed four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings to fall to 7-17.

"Some balls found holes," Padres manager Bud Black said.

Cameron Maybin and Alexi Amarista had an RBI apiece, as the Padres lost for the 10th time in the last 14 tries.

San Diego will host San Francisco and Colorado on this trip, and hopes youngster Robbie Erlin can pitch the club to a series win tonight. Erlin is starting in place of Tyson Ross, who is battling general soreness, and last pitched on Sept. 7 in a 6-0 loss to the Rockies.

Erlin pitched two innings and allowed three runs and five hits for a no- decision. The left-hander is 2-0 in his previous four appearances and did not factor in the outcome of a 7-5 loss to the Phillies last June 26, charged with three runs -- two earned -- in 6 1/3 innings.

The Phillies ended a three-game slide with Wednesday's win and San Diego native Cole Hamels dazzled through seven innings of work, striking out nine batters and allowing only a run. He scattered seven hits and walked one.

"I'm just trying to get outs, no matter what the score is for us," Hamels said.

Ben Revere and Freddy Galvis both drove in two runs during a four-run top of the fifth inning for the Phillies, who had lost seven of its previous 10 games. Revere, Darin Ruf and Domonic Brown all had two hits in the win.

Philadelphia is scheduled to visit Oakland and Miami on this trip, and will send Kyle Kendrick to the Petco Park mound tonight. Kendrick is 9-12 with a 4.72 earned run average and has won four of his last five starts, including a 2-1 victory over the Marlins on Saturday.

Kendrick limited Miami to a run in 6 1.3 innings with six strikeouts and one walk. He rebounded from a previous loss to Pittsburgh in which the right- hander gave up five runs and nine hits in seven innings. Kendrick is 3-6 in 14 road starts and 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA in six career games (5 starts) against the Padres. Kendrick threw six strong innings for a win over San Diego on June 12.

The Phillies swept that three-game June series versus the Padres. The Phils are 27-9 all-time at Petco Park.

URL

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