Phillies wrap up road trip with loss to Braves

ATLANTA - A light rain sprinkled Turner Field, and as Jerad Eickhoff walked toward the mound Sunday afternoon for his sixth inning, umpires called for the Braves grounds crew to pull the tarp onto the field. For much of the 24-minute sun delay, the crew held the tarp straps. They waited for a storm that never arrived.

It robbed Eickhoff of a chance to continue one of his better starts of the season, and it may have cost the Phillies a win. They lost, 2-1, when maligned reliever Andrew Bailey surrendered a two-run homer to Jeff Francoeur in the seventh.

The Phillies lost six of 10 on their three-city trip and split a four-game series with Atlanta, the worst team in baseball.

"I was looking to get right back out there," Eickhoff said. "I had some quick innings. I had a relatively low pitch count. It was frustrating. But you can only control what you can control."

Eickhoff tossed five scoreless innings. He did not return to the game, in part, because the Phillies batted for so long (without scoring) in the top of the sixth before the brief rain delay. He had not thrown for about 40 minutes.

"I thought it was more important to just get him out of there," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "Not take any chances. . . . The rest of the pitchers have a job to do. They have to do their job. They're getting paid. Simple as that."

Bailey has a 6.40 ERA. He has been scored upon in six of his last eight appearances.

"It's just very frustrating," Bailey said. "I feel like the stuff's still there and I've just got to keep grinding and turn the page."

The Phillies returned home Sunday night no different than they were when they left. They are off on Monday, but executives will spend the day at Citizens Bank Park trying to squeeze value from Jeremy Hellickson, Jeanmar Gomez and whatever else interests contending teams. A trade involving Vince Velasquez is less likely at this point, but that could change if other teams decline to deal their top-tier starters.

If the Phillies deal Hellickson before Monday's 4 p.m. trade deadline - and there are strong indications that a trade will materialize - Eickhoff will become the oldest member of the starting rotation.

Eickhoff is just 26, and a veteran of 30 starts in the majors. He has lost 16 of those 30 starts because his offense cannot support him. In the latest loss, the lone Phillies run came on a Jimmy Paredes home run. The Braves used six pitchers to silence them.

Eickhoff's career ERA is 3.39. The last Phillies pitcher with more than 15 losses and a sub-3.50 ERA in his first 30 starts was Jack Kraus from 1943-45. He did not pitch in 1944, as he served in World War II.

What has impressed Phillies officials the most is how Eickhoff has not often endured streaks of ineffectiveness. His durability and reliability, in a sense, remind some of Hellickson.

Eickhoff was a portrait of efficiency through his first five innings. He threw 13 pitches in the first, eight in the second, 10 in the third, 11 in the fourth and nine in the fifth. He had positioned himself for a long outing against the hapless Braves.

Atlanta mustered two hits, both singles, against Eickhoff. He faced the minimum in the first four innings. He generated weak contact; the Braves struck out just once in five innings.

"In a game like this today, with the temperature out there, you're trying to throw pitches over the plate and get a little contact," Eickhoff said. "I think I was able to do that for the most part. I had some good defense behind me. That's been a constant all year."

On a steamy Georgia afternoon, all that derailed him was a summer drizzle.

mgelb@phillynews.com

@magelb www.inquirer.com/phillieszone