Writer: Brandon Apter

Franco & Asche Both Start with Kendrick on the Mound

Brandon Apter Sports Editor

Published13 Sep 2014

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Last night, the Phillies (68-79) welcomed the Marlins (71-75) to town after losing three out of four to Pittsburgh. The Marlins played without their star player, Giancarlo Stanton, who was out after getting hit in the face on Thursday night in Milwaukee. Cole Hamels faced off against Henderson Alvarez and neither starter got a decision in the game as the Phils and Fish went extra innings. Cody Asche, who had been seeing less playing time since the promotion of Maikel Franco, launched a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th to win it for Philadelphia, 3-1. Tonight, Kyle Kendrick opposes Brad Hand in game two of this series between the bottom two NL East teams.

Aiming to rebound from his last outing, Kyle Kendrick (8-12, 4.83) has definitely been better in his last few outings. Though he allowed five runs last time out against Pittsburgh, he cruised through seven innings, giving up just two runs and racking up eight punch outs. With 111 pitches tallied after seven, manager Ryne Sandberg opted to go with Kyle for the eighth and it backfired. After allowing three straight hits, Jake Diekman came in and allowed each of them to score, upping Kendrick's earned runs on the day from two to five. September 2nd against Atlanta, Kendrick threw seven shutout innings in a 4-0 win for Philadelphia. Kyle's last start against the Marlins was on July 2nd, when he held Miami to two runs on six hits over seven innings.

Meanwhile, the Marlins will go with 23-year-old southpaw, Brad Hand (3-6, 4.45). Hand has seen time as both as starter and reliever this season with the Marlins. He has played in 29 games and started 13 of them. His last start on September 7th against Atlanta and he shut down the Braves offense, scattering five hits over six shutout innings. Hand started the game against the Phillies back on July 2nd as well against Kendrick. He gave up three runs on seven hits over five innings. In the month of August, Hand struggled, posting an 0-3 record to go along with a 6.17 ERA.

Game Notes:

After hitting the walk-off homer last night, Asche earns himself another start at third, while Maikel Franco will start in place of Ryan Howard at first.
Top prospect JP Crawford was honored with the Paul Owens Award a few nights ago for being the top player in the Phillies minor league system. Crawford hit .289 with eight home runs, six doubles, 29 RBIs and a .798 OPS in his final 57 games with Clearwater, where he was one of the youngest players in the league.
Entering Friday, the Phillies were 18-4 when Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon have pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Giles and Papelbon have posted a 0.76 ERA (four earned runs in 47 1/3 innings) in those games.

Lineups

Phillies Lineup: