He’s a strong candidate to represent the Phillies at the Midsummer Classic in San Diego. “If that happens, great”. “Whether we have him miss a start or have him go into the bullpen just to pitch an inning, I don’t know”.
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Asked if he feels he deserves to go, Herrera answered himself: “For sure”. The KC righty would allow three earned runs on six hits over five innings, striking out eight and walking three. In his next four starts, he hasn’t made it out of the fourth inning, going 0-3 with a 15.23 ERA in that span. Nola is the first Phillies starter to be unable to get through the fourth in four consecutive starts since Marty Bystrom in 1982. In six innings, the Royals attack managed just one run against right-hander Jeremy Hellickson. “He wasn’t trying to do too much and was relaxed”.
Kansas City Royals’ Kendrys Morales, left, is congratulated by Danny Duffy, right, after his three-run homer that scored Duffy, and Whit Merrifield during the second inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, July 2, 2016 in Philadelphia. Jeanmar Gomez finished for his 22nd save in 24 tries. Normally Kansas City’s designated hitter, Morales has played right field the last two games because manager Ned Yost wanted to keep his hot bat in the lineup.
While Nola lost his fourth straight decision, Kansas City starter Danny Duffy came within one out of the first complete game of his career. Perez then picked Asche off first, but the Phillies challenged and the call was overturned. Maikel Franco, who has struggled this year at home hitting just.
Asche ripped an RBI double to right in the fifth to put the Phillies ahead 3-1.
The under is 14-3 in Kansas City’s last 17 Sunday games and is 7-2-1 in their last 10 interleague games while the Royals are 4-12 in their last 16 road games. Nola gave up four hits prior to the home run, but three of them were not hit hard. The defending world champions are hitting. The Phillies improved to 36-45, and 13 games behind the Nationals in the NL East.
Alcides Escobar singled to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.
In some ways, this start was the most important this season by any Phillies pitcher. Phillies RF Peter Bourjos is on fire at the plate, hitting.
Kennedy has struck out 19 of the last 48 batters he’s faced in the past two starts. To do this, the Phils could option Nola to the low minors – where he could simply idle – bring up a reliever for the final eight games before the break and use Adam Morgan as the starter Thursday in Denver. With the total sitting at just 8 runs and Nola likely to get chased quickly, take a chance with the over. “It was a constant grind”.
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The Phillies scored their first run in the opening inning, but the Royals tied it on Duffy’s first major league hit and RBI, a bunt single that landed between the pitcher’s mound and shortstop. The left-hander’s previous best was eight innings, which he tied in Monday’s win over St. Louis. Nola’s first six pitches were on the outside corner, before he came inside to fool Gordon with a fastball.
