Thursday, August 01, 2013
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Kendrick falters, Phillies lose to Giants

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[August 01, 2013]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Kyle Kendrick probably won't share this start with his new son.

Kendrick got roughed up and the San Francisco Giants snapped a five-game losing streak with a 9-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Kendrick (9-8) gave up eight hits and seven runs in two-plus innings. His outing came one day after his wife, Stephanie, gave birth to the couple's second child, Kyle Jr..

"I'm not going to make any excuse," Kendrick said. "I have to make better pitches. It was a frustrating night."

Asked if that was a distraction for Kendrick, manager Charlie Manuel downplayed it.

"What I saw was everything they hit fell," Manuel said. "If they hit it hard, it fell. If they hit it soft, it fell. It was one of those games."

Chad Gaudin threw seven sharp innings and Brett Pill and Brandon Crawford hit homers for San Francisco.

Neither team made a move as the non-waiver trade deadline passed, a surprise considering both clubs are going nowhere.

The defending World Series champion Giants are last in the NL West. The Phillies fell to 12 1/2 games out of first place and nine back in the wild-card standings.

One bright spot for Philadelphia was third baseman Cody Asche started his first game, and his first fielding play was sensational. Asche made a diving, backhanded grab on Hunter Pence's hard shot down the line in the first, got up and threw him out with a strong throw.

"It's fun to make plays like that," he said. "It's awesome when the crowd gets behind you."

Asche was 0 for 4 at the plate.

"I felt good at the plate, missed a couple pitches," he said.

Michael Young moved from third to first base to make room for Asche. The Phillies considered trading Young, but general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. stood pat for the first time in his tenure.


 

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Gaudin (5-2) allowed one run and four hits, striking out five. He also got his first career RBI on a single that was just his second hit in 59 at-bats.

Roger Kieschnick had RBI singles in his first two major league at-bats for the Giants, who snapped a nine-game homerless drought when Pill went deep. Pill had three hits and four RBIs.

Chase Utley hit a solo homer for the Phillies, who snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 7-3 win in the series opener Tuesday.

The Giants jumped on Kendrick for four runs in the first inning, more than they had in any of the previous five losses.

Pablo Sandoval started it with an RBI on a bloop single. Pill hit a two-run single and Kieschnick singled in one.

They chased Kendrick with three in the third. Pill and Kieschnick had RBI singles before Gaudin rolled a run-scoring single through the left side to break an 0-for-17 slump.

Pill and Crawford connected off J.C. Ramirez in the seventh.

Fans sitting in the first couple rows down the right-field line escaped injury when Sandoval's bat shattered on a swing in the sixth and flew high in the air before landing more than 100 feet away. The broken part of the bat came down like a spear, but fans moved out of the way. Sandoval hustled out an infield single on the play, but left the game with a right heel bruise.

NOTES: Sandoval is day to day. ... The Phillies are 2-9 since the All-Star break. ... Cole Hamels (4-13, 4.09) faces Matt Cain (6-6, 4.79) in a matchup of struggling aces Thursday night.

[Associated Press; By ROB MAADDI]

Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_RobMaaddi.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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