Fast Facts and Reax: Indians 14, Phillies 2

Cleveland Indians 14, Phillies 2

Indians (11-13), Phillies (12-15)

WP: McAllister (2-3, 3.30 ERA)

LP: Halladay (2-3, 6.57 ERA)

So much for progress.

Despite a three-game win streak, run of three quality starts for Roy Halladay, the addition of Delmon Young and the luxury of the designated hitter, the Phillies crumbled in a 14-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field tonight, pushing the reset button on what few advances were made.

Cleveland mashed for seven home runs on the night in all, getting two apiece off of Chad Durbin and Raul Valdes, for the most in the bigs this season and most since Sept. 26, 2012. It was the most against the Phillies since 2005, and had only happened three times in team history before tonight.

Here we go again with Halladay.

Doctor, Doctor

Only twice in his career has Halladay been worse in than he was tonight, when he was blasted for eight runs and three home runs in 3 2/3 innings. Both were during his time with the Toronto Blue Jays. The most recent, incidentally against the Indians, was five days from its 13 year anniversary.

Over three starts before tonight, he’d had a 2-0 mark and 1.71 ERA.

Then came the first inning tonight, when Carlos Santana and Mark Reynolds both launched two-run homers, and there the mojo went. After a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 second inning and similarly brief third, Lonnie Chisenhall rocketed a third two-run shot and Asdrubal Cabrera screamed a two-run single.

Too many balls hung over the plate.

Halladay entered with one of the worst first-pitch strike rates in baseball, and even with four Indians putting their first pitches in play only managed F-Strikes to 13 of 22 batters. He lasted only 76 pitches and threw 44 for strikes, walking two to only three strikeouts. Nine hits, too.

His batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in those three starts was .091.

Halladay’s BABIP tonight was .563.

The Other Guy

No surprise: Zach McAllister, 25, faced the Phils tonight for his first time ever, and handled them. He tossed six innings of two-run ball for his third quality start in five this year. Save for solo home runs by Delmon Young and Chase Utley, he was basically untouched. Four strikeouts, one walk.

Five starters have met the Phils for the first time this year. They’ve now got a combined 2.10 ERA.

McAllister entered with a 57.4 F-Strike%, No. 77 of 109 qualifying starters.

He tossed first-pitch strikes to 19 of 24 (79.1%) Phillies, with 70 of 106 overall falling for strikes.

Entering tonight, McAllister had surrendered no more than three runs in any of his starts while getting two runs of support or fewer in all of them. Clearly, half of that scenario no longer applies.

Bats in the Cave

The Phillies solo home run total this year is astounding. Sure, it was good that Young got his first as a Phillie in his first at-bat with the team, and getting HR No. 5 for Chase was better than not. But a subsection of the Phillies power problem this season is that they haven’t maximized their effort by virtue of getting guys on base (like, say, by walking) beforehand. And so, of 22 home runs this year, 13 have been solo shots. Of the multiple-run shots, Ryan Howard and Utley have only three total.

The Phillies 1-3 hitters were 1 for 9 tonight, while Cleveland’s were 4 for 14.

That didn’t help create chances in other ways. Only in the fifth and sixth did the Phillies work men into scoring position, with the score already out of hand. Delmon Young was hit by a pitch and Domonic Brown walked with no outs to open the fifth, but Carlos Ruiz, John Mayberry Jr., and Ben Revere grounded out in order. With two outs in the sixth, after Utley’s homer, Howard muscled out a double and Young moved him to third with a single, but Brown popped out to end the frame.

In all, only five at-bats with men in scoring position, and only Young’s single to show for it.

Needing Relief

Eleven times has a Phillie reliever surrendered two or more runs. Six have come in three games.

If it pours when it rains for the Phillies ‘pen, there was precipitation tonight.

Durbin fanned Santana on five pitches to clean up Halladay’s fourth inning. But he served two-out, two-run home runs to Ryan Raburn and Michael Brantley in the fifth for Cleveland’s third four-run inning. Durbin hadn’t surrendered an earned run in six appearances over 6 2/3 innings prior.

Valdes, too, surrendered his home runs with two outs, on back-to-back jacks for Raburn and Drew Stubbs in the seventh. He pitched a 1-2-3 sixth (thanks to a GIDP) and struck out four overall.

Durbin and Valdes each own an ERA over 7.00.

Next

Cliff Lee will look to play stopper against RHP Trevor Bauer in the series finale in Cleveland tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. The Phillies then return home for a four-game set against the Miami Marlins starting Thursday.