Diamondbacks Blow 5-0 Lead Against Phillies, Fall 6-5

WP: Jeff Manship (1-0) LP: Trevor Cahill (1-5) S: Jonathan Papelbon (7)

Early offense against ace pitcher Cliff Lee and a great start from Bronson Arroyo weren't enough to hold off the Phillies offense, as the Arizona Diamondbacks fell 6-5 after a late inning collapse on Saturday night.

The Diamondbacks continued to show they were capable of performing at a high level early in Saturday's ballgame, as they tagged Phillies ace Cliff Lee for five runs in the first three innings. It started with a leadoff single from AJ Pollock, who oddly advanced to second on a pick off that was unsuccesful due to Jimmy Rollins dropping the ball at second base. Martin Prado would ground out to second to move Pollock to third, and Paul Golschmidt would bring him home on a sacrifice fly to right field. Then Miguel Montero and Aaron Hill would single back to back and Montero would be brought home by a Cody Ross single.

Arizona would score another run in the second inning as AJ Pollock would hit a RBI triple to bring home Chris Owings. The D-backs would score their final two runs in the third inning coming from a Cody Ross two run single. Cliff Lee would be flawless the next three innngs he would pitch and finish his day going six innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits, two walks and two strikeouts.

Bronson Arroyo would finally show his true colors as a D-back, as he would stiffle the Phillies offense for the majority of his outing. The Phillies would finally get to Arroyo in the sixth inning, as pinch hitter Tony Gwynn Jr would hit a RBI double to score Carlos Ruiz. Joe Thatcher would relieve Arroyo and relinguish a single to Ben Revere, and a RBI groundout to Jimmy Rollins. Bronson Arroyo would finish with a quality start, pitching 6.1 innings allowing two earned runs on seven hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

The wheels would fall off the wagon for the D-backs in the eighth, starting with a Martin Prado fielding error on a sky high pop up to shallow left field off the bat of Ryan Howard. Prado was the only player on the left side of infield during the lefty shift, and said in a post game interview that he took his eye off the ball. Trevor Cahill would come in to pitch, and he would struggle to say the least. Cahill would walk Marlon Byrd, give up a base hit to Dominic Brown, then allow Carlos Ruiz to hit a RBI single. After striking out Freddy Galvis, Cahill would allow a two run single off the bat of pinch hitter Cody Asche. Ben Revere would follow by hitting a RBI single to give the Phillies a 6-5 lead.

The bottom of the ninth inning would present another crucial replay incident thus far in 2014. Martin Prado would single off Jonathan Papelbon to start the bottom half. He would attempt to advance on a passed ball and originally be called safe on the play. But Phillies skipper Ryne Sandberg would challenge the play and it would be overturned, ultimately ending any sort of D-back rally.

The D-backs and Phillies finish off their three game series in a rubber match on Sunday afternoon. The D-backs will look for the series win behind Brandon McCarthy as he will face A.J. Burnett of the Phillies.