By: Tyler Ward
Phillies pitcher, Roy Halladay, threw his major league-leading 7th complete game this season. The Phillies won the game against the Braves, 3-1. Greg Dobbs hit a two-run home run to give Halladay some run support. In Halladay's seven losses this season, he has only received a total of 12 runs for support. The Phillies have had to battle a recent injury bug, with the go-ahead home run hitter tonight, Dobbs, recently called up from Triple A. Chase Utley and Placido Polanco have been put on the disabled list.
Halladay is 10-7 this year and threw his second straight complete game. He struck out seven batters, while only giving up five hits. Derek Lowe, who is 9-7 this year, took the loss in tonight's game. Halladay was on target tonight, facing only 31 batters. Only two of those batters had a plate appearance lasting more than five pitches. Braves hitters were 0 for 8, while striking out five times when Halladay's pitches were low in the zone.
The losing pitcher, Lowe, pitched seven strong innings, only giving up six hits with two earned runs. He had a quality outing, but like Halladay recently, he was not given any run support to commend his great pitching efforts. He did, however, throw 108 pitches, when Halladay threw a lowly 93. This is also Lowe's 123rd loss since being called up by the Red Sox in 1997.
The Phillies needed this win tonight, as they are 17-23 in their last 40 games. The Braves are now four games ahead of Philadelphia in the NL East after the loss.
Chipper Jones hit his sixth home run of the year tonight, smashing the first pitch he saw into the seats in the first inning. Halladay got run help in the sixth inning when Dobbs hit a two-run home run to drive in Jayson Werth. Juan Castro hit an RBI single in the 8th, also driving in Werth.
