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Homers sink Haren, D-backs in Philly

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By David Gurian-Peck / MLB.com

08/19/09 11:10 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA -- Chad Tracy staved off D-backs ignominy with his one-out, pinch-hit single up the middle in the sixth.

That swing ended Cliff Lee's no-hit bid.

But it did little to buoy Arizona, which managed just one other single. Dan Haren allowed three home runs and the D-backs fell to the Phillies, 8-1, at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night.

"[There's] not a lot of ways to describe a beating like that," manager A.J. Hinch said. "They beat us in every aspect. Lee dominated us the whole night. They hit the ball out of the ballpark multiple times and they beat us pretty handilly."

Lee tossed a complete game in just two hours, 28 minutes. He issued no walks and tied a career high with 11 strikeouts. Third baseman Mark Reynolds fell victim four times to Lee's broad repertoire, striking out swinging on a slider in the second, curveball in the fourth, fastball in the seventh and changeup, to end the game, in the ninth.

The D-backs' lone run was unearned. Ryan Roberts reached on a two-base error by Pedro Feliz, who could not backhand a hard grounder down the third-base line. Roberts advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Stephen Drew's sacrifice fly to center.

"He really hit his spots well," Drew said. "We just couldn't get nothing going. That's kind of the way it went tonight."

Admittedly, then, Haren had little room for error. He bounced back from a Chase Utley two-run homer in the third by retiring five of the next six Phillies. One poorly located fastball in the fifth, however, ruined his night.

Haren worked into a favorable 1-2 count against All-Star first baseman Ryan Howard, who had struck out and grounded out weakly in his first two at-bats. After throwing four consecutive changeups, Haren opted for a quicker-paced offering.

It backfired. Howard deposited a three-run shot into the seats in left-center field.

"Looking back, obviously, I'd like to change my pitch selection," said Haren, who allowed a season-high six earned runs. "[I] probably could have gone with any other pitch there. [I was] trying to go up with a fastball and didn't quite get it there, and I paid for it."

One pitch later, Jayson Werth greeted another 92-mph fastball in a similar fashion, launching a 420-foot blast over the center-field wall.

"You try to stay away from big innings with this lineup," Hinch said. "It's hard to do."

Werth homered again in the seventh off Juan Gutierrez. The Phils' No. 2-5 hitters were 8-for-15 on Wednesday, with four home runs, eight RBIs and six runs scored.

"Our lineup is stacked with lefties," said Werth, himself right-handed. "Our left-handers hit right-handers pretty good. Any given day, though, a guy can give it up or shut somebody down. Today was one of those days where we got to him."

Haren has surrendered at least one home run in each of his past six outings. He has allowed 22 homers this season, surpassing last year's total of 19. Since his ERA dipped below 2.00 on July 18, the 28-year-old righty has gone 2-3 with a 5.75 ERA, allowing 42 hits, nine homers and 23 earned runs in 36 innings.

"[I] just left the ball out over the plate," Haren said of the pitch to Howard. "It's something I hadn't been doing earlier is making mistakes. It seems like every mistake I make now, I'm paying for it."

Even mistake-free pitching may not have been enough. Arizona has picked up just six hits and no walks in the first two games against Philadelphia. The club has struck out 18 times. And two of those hits came in the first inning Tuesday.

So over their past 17 innings, the D-backs have recorded four hits. Over their past seven games, they have scored 20 runs.

"We've got guys learning on the fly here at this level," Hinch said. "We're a little beat up. ... But it is what it is. I'm certainly not going to use it as an excuse. It's difficult for us at times. But then again, Lee makes it difficult on a lot of [teams] around the league."

David Gurian-Peck is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.