May 22, 2016
Michael Perez/AP
Cameron Rupp is congratulated by Tyler Goeddel after hitting a leadoff home run in the second inning.
Despite his record, Jerad Eickhoff has pitched pretty well so far this season for the Philadelphia Phillies.
And with his team looking to avoid being swept for the first time since its season-opening series against the Reds, the 25-year-old righty delivered his best performance of the season to help the Phillies to a 5-0 win over the last-place Atlanta Braves on a cloudy Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
The five-run margin of victory is the Phillies' largest so far this season. It also gave them a winning record (5-4) for the homestand -- not to mention some confidence before heading on a road trip that includes some pretty stiff competition.
"[The win] was a good boost for us," manager Pete Mackanin said after the game. "We needed to win that game today, the way I look at it, because we'll be facing some tough teams [on the upcoming road trip]. Detroit we haven't seen; nor the Cubs. And we know they're both pretty good offensively-minded teams. It's great to end a homestand with a win and some confidence heading into the road trip."
Eickhoff tossed seven scoreless innings, his longest outing in over a month, and held Atlanta to five hits while striking out three and walking just one. He threw just 85 pitches (57 for strikes) but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh. That probably had something to do with the fact that neither Hector Neris nor Jeanmar Gomez had pitched since Thursday's win over the Marlins.
But make no mistake about it. Eickhoff was dealing, and doing so efficiently.
that curve tho pic.twitter.com/A8pdunOKT3
— chris jones¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) May 22, 2016
A large reason for Eickhoff's less than ideal record, which improved to 2-6 after the win, has been a lack of run support. In his 46.2 innings of work this season heading into his most recent start, Eickhoff had seen his teammates score just 13 runs. That 2.51 runs of support per nine innings was the fourth-lowest in the bigs. It was also a large part of why he was hit with six losses in his first eight starts -- including five straight decisions -- despite allowing three runs or less in seven of his eight outings this season.
That, however, wasn't the case on Sunday.
The Phillies offense, which had been held to just two runs on eight hits in the first two games of the series, came alive against Braves starter Casey Kelly. The Phils finished with 13 hits in the game, tied for their most so far this season.
"It's always more encouraging [to pitch well and pick up the win]," Eickhoff said. "But I've always stayed positive through this whole stretch -- if you even want to call it a tough time. I've seen it as a growing process and I'm continuing to make strides forward."
Things got off to a promising start in the first inning, when Odubel Herrera led off with a double. The next batter, Cesar Hernandez, flied out to deep center and advanced Herrera to third. But Maikel Franco failed to plate the leadoff hitter and cleanup hitter Tommy Joseph -- that feels good to say, doesn't it? -- made good contact, but hit it right at right fielder Nick Markakis.
So after a leadoff double -- and a runner on third with less than two outs -- the Phillies came up empty and it looked like they might actually pick up right where they'd left off against Atlanta on Saturday.
Luckily for Eickhoff, things changed dramatically in the second inning.
Catcher Cameron Rupp, who finished with a career-high three hits in the game, led off the second inning with a solo home run down the right-field line. Two batters later, Tyler Goeddel tripled to deep center field; he would score on a Peter Bourjos single to give the Phillies an early 2-0 lead.
That would be all Eickhoff and the Phillies bullpen needed, but after being shut out a day earlier, they decided to add some insurance just to be safe, starting with the pitcher himself.
In the bottom of the fifth, Eickhoff made it a three-run lead when he drove Freddy Galvis in on an RBI groundout.
Two innings later, Franco, who may have begun to break out of his most recent slump with a pair of hits in the game, drove in two more runs on an RBI single. He was, however, thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.
The back end of the Phillies bullpen looked like it had a few days of rest. Hector Neris pitched a scoreless eighth and Jeanmar Gomez closed the door in the ninth with a perfect 1-2-3 inning (but didn't pick up a save because it was a 5-0 game).
Here's more from South Philly:
• Odubel Herrera reached base in each his first four plate appearances -- and four out of five in total -- but did so in four different ways. There was the aforementioned leadoff double. He then walked and was hit by a pitch in his next two at-bats. In his fourth trip to the plate, he reached on an infield single.
Odubel Herrera is cool pic.twitter.com/xh7fd2GeU0
— chris jones¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) May 22, 2016
It would have been five-for-five (in terms of getting on base) had it not been for the quick reflexes of Braves reliever Eric O'Flaherty. There also probably would've been a headless Braves pitcher on the mound as well...
almost a homicide pic.twitter.com/R8y7dmVT6I
— chris jones¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) May 22, 2016
• Pete Mackanin has now used 38 different lineups in 44 games, according to baseball-reference.com. In case it's not obvious, that's an absurd amount, especially for a team that's six games over .500.
"It's been interesting," Mackanin said. "I look at matchups and I try -- who knows why I do it -- I just look at it on a daily basis and figure this might work or that might work. It would be nice to have a set lineup, but that doesn't always happen."
You've got to give the manager credit here. Considering that so many of their wins have been close games, it's hard to argue with him.
• Cameron Rupp is strong. According to the Phillies, the average exit velocity of batted balls in play is the highest in MLB at 96.0 mph. That's ahead of guys like Nelson Cruz (95.6 mph) and Giancarlo Stanton (95 mph). As previously mentioned, he set a new career high with 3 hits today, including a solo home run in the second to put the Phillies on the board for the first time.
Cameron Rupp launched a home run to start the #Phillies 2-run second inning pic.twitter.com/6o58aZguto
— Evan Webeck (@EvanWebeck) May 22, 2016
• Maikel Franco, who had just two hits in his last 20 plate appearances, had two hits in his four at-bats on Sunday, including a 2-run single in the sixth inning.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin
