Miller Time as Braves Crush Phils
By Matt Veasey
17. Final. 0. 6. 9
Atlanta Braves (13-14) starter Shelby Miller was really, really good. Phillies (10-18) starter Chad Billingsley was as rusty as his two years out of Major League Baseball would leave us expecting. The result was an extremely ugly 9-0 shutout victory for the hosts.
The story of this game is, for Phils fans, long and ugly, with no redeeming features. Therefore, for one of the few times this season, we’re not going to drag this coverage out.
Miller threw 99 pitches, 75 of them for strikes. He allowed just 3 hits while striking out 8 and walking just one in raising his season record to 4-1.
Billingsley made his first big league start since April 15th, 2013 while a member of the Dodgers. He lasted 5 innings and made 77 pitches, just 46 of those for strikes. He yielded 8 hits, including a pair of homers, while striking out two and walking one in suffering the loss.
Elvis Araujo and Justin De Fratus pitched effectively in relief over 2.2 innings following Billingsley. Unfortunately they weren’t the only relief pitchers to take the mound. Sandwiched in between those two was Dustin McGowan, who couldn’t find the strike zone and got roped around. He threw 26 pitches, just 9 strikes, walking 4 and allowing 3 earned runs in just 1/3 of an inning.
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The Braves offensive outburst was largely created by a pair of bats. 1st baseman Freddie Freeman went 3-4 with a walk, 3 runs scored, and 2 driven in. 3rd baseman Kelly Johnson, who moved to right field later in the game, went 2-3 with a walk, scored a run, and knocked in 4. Both players went deep for Atlanta.
The Phillies were shutout for the 4th time this season, tied for most in all of baseball. It was their 2nd white-washing in the last four games. They are averaging just 2.75 runs per game, and only the Chicago White Sox have scored fewer runs overall in MLB.
On Wednesday night, this 10-game road trip on which the Phils are currently 3-6 will come to an end when Jerome Williams takes the mound against Mike Foltynewicz at 7:10pm. The club will be off on Thursday, and then return to a less-than-inspired Citizens Bank Park for a 10-game home stand beginning on Friday night vs the New York Mets.