Phillies' Lee throws shutout; Lowe struggles

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PHILADELPHIA -- Cliff Lee had won just once in six career starts against the Braves, and Derek Lowe had  pitched better against Lee’s Phillies this season than Lee against the Braves.

There was a market correction both ways Monday night. Lee dominated the Braves and Lowe was hit hard in a 9-0 series-opening loss against Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park.

Lee (16-7) pitched a five-hit shutout with no walks and six strikeouts, extending his winning streak to seven consecutive starts and lowering his ERA to 0.37 ERA in the past six.

Lowe (9-13) gave up eight hits and seven runs (five earned) in five innings and the Braves lost for the sixth time in 10 games. They fell to 8-1/2 games behind the National League East-leading Phillies.

"Give them all the credit," Lowe said. "They dominated every aspect of the game. Sometimes you’ve just got to give other people credit, too. It’s not always that you pitched or hit poorly. Sometimes it’s that you just got outplayed."

The Braves maintained an 8-1/2-game lead over St. Louis in the wild-card standings, with 22 games left in the regular season. The Braves have a three-game weekend series at St. Louis beginning Friday, after two more against the Phillies and a makeup doubleheader Thursday against the Mets in New York.

Lee became the first pitcher with six shutouts in a season since Randy Johnson did it with Seattle and Houston in 1998, and first NL pitcher to pull this feat since the Dodgers' Tim Belcher in 1989.

"He was dotting all his pitches, commanding both sides of the plate," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "You can’t do much about that one. Other than make a couple of those plays behind  D-Lowe there, [it] might be a little different game. But at the end of the night, Cliff was pretty darn good.”

A lone bright spot for the Braves was the return of reliever Peter Moylan, who pitched a perfect seventh inning with a strikeout in his first appearance since April 14. The Aussie sidearmer had back surgery in May.

“You obviously want it to be in a game the Braves won, but, for me personally, this could have been the seventh game of the World Series with the adrenaline I had going," Moylan said. "It’s nice to get through an inning and feel OK.”

Hunter Pence had a two-run single in the first inning and an RBI double in the fifth in his first game against the Braves since his trade from Houston to Philadelphia in July. The Phillies’ lineup is deeper and more dangerous with Pence behind Ryan Howard, who was walked intentionally in the fifth inning after Chase Utley’s leadoff triple.

Pence made the Braves pay with a double down the right-field line that pushed the lead to 7-0.

With Lee in top form, the Phillies didn’t need offense beyond Pence’s two-run single to left in the first inning. They got plenty more, though, including Shane Victorino’s two-run, two-out single in the fourth and Carlos Ruiz’s two-run single in the fifth.

“The best thing about him was that he had his fastball working to both sides of the plate," Braves center fielder Michael Bourn said. “They’re a good team. They hit and they keep pounding away, and they’re not going to give up through nine innings. When you play against them, you’ve got to play nine innings. That’s the only way you’re going to beat them."

Before Monday, Lee was 1-3 with a 4.98 ERA in six starts against the Braves, his worst stats against any team he had faced at least three times. He had been 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in three starts against the Braves this season, and 15-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 24 starts against all others.

On Monday, Lowe allowed three hits before recording his second out. He gave up consecutive one-out singles to Placido Polanco and Utley, and then walked Howard to load the bases before Pence’s single put the Phillies ahead 2-0 and sent an early charge through a sellout crowd of 45,267.