No fireworks for Phillies in shutout loss to Pirates

Freddy Galvis looked at ball four. He dropped his bat Tuesday and glared toward the on-deck circle, where Aaron Altherr waited in the seventh inning of a 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh. Galvis clapped his hands three times. Let's go.

But this holiday matinee contributed nine more innings of evidence as to why the Phillies have fallen short so often this season. They received good pitching. They put runners on base. That was not enough.

The Phillies stranded a runner on third base in four of the game's first seven innings. It was an impressive display of offensive failure.

"That's tough to take," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "If we execute those situations, we have a better chance to win games."

Altherr, the team's best hitter, strode to the plate in the seventh with the bases loaded. He tapped an 0-1 slider to shortstop for a routine 6-4-3 double play. The threat was neutralized.

The Phillies advanced a runner to third in the first, third and fourth innings. Three of those times, the runner was on third with less than two outs.

Altherr, in the first inning, struck out looking with Galvis on third and one out. Catcher Andrew Knapp struck out with runners on the corners and one out. Then, Altherr bounced into the double play to eliminated the bases-loaded rally.

The Phillies, as a team, have hit .217 with a .591 OPS with runners on third and less than two outs. Those are the worst numbers in baseball. The league averages are .322 and .871.

"From my perspective, you've got to be ready to hit early in the count so you don't get to two strikes," Mackanin said. "You get a pitch early in the count you can put in play, you're going to drive in runs. You don't want to get behind when the pitcher can expand the strike zone on you.

"Plus, in my opinion, we take too many good pitches to hit, especially with two strikes and men in scoring position."

Jameson Taillon, the Pirates righthander who earlier in the season underwent surgery to remove testicular cancer, registered a career-high nine strikeouts in five innings. The Phillies made contact, but not enough contact. That is the kind of malaise that will infect a team that owns a .305 on-base percentage. The Phillies make outs at too frequent a rate. So it goes.

Mark Leiter, Jr.,  in his first start at Citizens Bank Park, lacked command but limited the damage. Barring something unforeseen, this was Leiter's last start in place of Jerad Eickhoff, who pitched five solid innings Tuesday night for double-A Reading. Eickhoff, sidelined by a back injury, should return to pitch in Sunday's game against San Diego.

Leiter represented nothing more than a stopgap, but his time in the rotation produced modest success. The Phillies won two of the three games he started. He allowed six runs in 16 1/3 innings (a 3.30 ERA) with 16 strikeouts and three walks. He lasted at least five innings in each of his three outings.

He was proud of that.

"Anytime you're going to be a starter, that's your job," Leiter said. "Absolutely."

The Phillies could keep Leiter around as an extra arm, much like the role he filled during his first stint with the team. Even if he is returned to triple-A Lehigh Valley, Leiter has pitched his way into the Phillies' plans for the remainder of the season. They will need innings, and Leiter can provide some.

That's a fine accomplishment for the former 22nd-round pick and product of the New Jersey Institute of Technology who was unsure whether he'd start the season at triple A or double A. But the Phillies, this season, had hoped for bigger surprises than the 26-year-old righthander.