video thumbnail

MIA@PHI: Hamels strikes out eight over 6 2/3 innings

Less than a week ago, Cole Hamels salvaged a victory out of a subpar performance to help the Phillies snap a three-game losing streak. On Tuesday, Hamels will again hope to play the role of stopper, albeit with a better outing this time around.

The Phillies will be looking to snap yet another three-game losing streak when they welcome the Rockies to Citizens Bank Park for the first of a three-game set. Philadelphia enters the series fresh off a sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays that dropped it to a season-worst six games below .500, at 31-37.

Overall, the Phillies have won just three of their last 15 games dating back to June 2, which also marks the start of a recent personal skid for Hamels. After going a flawless 5-0 in May, Hamels is off to a 1-2 start in June with a 6.75 ERA. Even his lone win this month came in what was actually his worst outing of the season.

The lefty was credited with a win last Wednesday against the Twins, despite allowing seven runs (six earned) over six innings of work.

"Maybe that's being selfish, but it's hard to when you're still in last place and you don't put good starts together," Hamels said when asked if he would enjoy the victory after the 9-8 triumph. "That's quite a few in a row. They're not good moments. ... It's not the right time to have poor starts when the team isn't doing that well. We can't afford that."

Speaking of not doing well, the Rockies arrive in Philadelphia having lost 10 of their last 11 contests and will send a struggling Josh Outman to the mound for the series opener.

Outman, who was moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation when Jamie Moyer was cut at the end of May, enters the game 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA in 12 appearances (three starts). The southpaw worked a season-high five innings in his outing last Wednesday against the Athletics, but he also allowed five runs on six hits, including a pair of home runs.

"Both the mistakes I made ended up in the seats," Outman said of serving up the two long balls in the eventual 10-8 loss. "We're playing good baseball, but we can't catch a break. Every time we make a mistake, it gets magnified. Just the way the game goes sometimes."

Rockies: Gonzalez scratched last-minute on Sunday
Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez was scratched from Sunday's loss in Detroit due to a strained right knee. The Rockies tweeted that an MRI revealed no structural damage in the knee. Gonzalez is being listed as day to day going forward.

The announcement of Gonzalez's absence didn't come until Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer had already started warming up on the mound in preparation for the game's first pitch. Dexter Fowler, who was originally scheduled to have the day off, took Gonzalez's place for the game that endured a 53-minute rain delay in the fourth inning.

Gonzalez is currently on a seven-game hitting streak, during which he's hitting .438. For the season, he's hitting .335 with 17 homers and 51 RBIs.

Phillies: Thome to return to pinch-hitting role
Though the Phillies went just 3-6 on their nine-game Interleague road trip that concluded Sunday, slugger Jim Thome probably wasn't thrilled to see the trip come to an end.

With the Phillies returning to playing exclusively in National League parks, manager Charlie Manuel said Thome -- who has homered in three of the last five games as the club's designated hitter -- will reassume his pinch-hitting rule.

Thome's most recent blast on Sunday marked his 100th as a Phillie, making him the fourth player all time -- joining Alex Rodriguez, Reggie Jackson and Darrell Evans -- to hit at least 100 homers with three different teams. Thome hit 337 with the Indians and 134 with the White Sox.

Worth noting
• The Phillies are 19-4 against the Rockies since the start of the 2008 season.

• Gonzalez is 5-for-6 with two doubles in his career against Hamels.

MLB.com Comments