Braves rookie left-hander Sean Newcomb is brimming with obvious potential. He can realize more of it if and when he figures out how to throw more strikes.
The Phillies couldn’t do much against Newcomb on Saturday but he lasted only five innings because he was so inefficient. Braves relievers couldn’t hold a two-run lead and the Phillies won 4-3 on Ty Kelly’s game-winning RBI single in the 11th inning.
Left-hander Rex Brothers gave up the game-winning hit. Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a one-out home run against closer Jim Johnson.
“That’s baseball,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s why you play 27 outs and you’ve got to get them all to win. That’s the way it goes.”
The Braves (48-54) lost for the fifth time in as many games this season at the Phillies (37-64). They lost the first two of games of the four-game series and dropped to 3-6 on the trip.
Newcomb departed with a 3-1 lead that didn’t last.
Braves right-hander Jose Ramirez was perfect in the sixth and seventh. Arodys Vizcaino gave up a lead-off triple to Cesar Hernandez in the eight, followed by Aaron Altherr’s RBI single that pulled the Phillies within 3-2.
Johnson’s blown save was his majors-high eighth of the season and third in his last seven chances. Johnson said he wanted to throw Herrera a two-seam fastball on the corner of the plate or, if he missed that location, well off the plate.
Instead the pitch was near the middle of the plate.
“I just made a mistake with a pitch at the worst possible time,” Johnson said. “It’s unfortunate with the way guys have been grinding out. As a team we’ve been in a little bit of a slump and tonight we were wanting to get out of it. I just didn’t do my part. I’m not going to hang my head. I’m going to do what I can tomorrow.”
Brothers gave up a lead-off single to Tommy Joseph, a pop up that fell in shallow right-center field. After Herrera hit a one-out single before, Brothers walked Cameron Rupp to load the bases and Kelly delivered the decisive RBI.
Newcomb held the Phillies to two hits (both singles) over five innings but threw just 54 strikes on 96 pitches while walking three batters and hitting one. Newcomb’s two-out walk to Maikel Franco in the fourth inning, after he’d walked Aaron Altherr to lead off the inning, led to Odubel Hererra’s RBI single.
“It’s just a matter of throwing more strikes,” Snitker said. “He’s a young pitcher. He’s far from being a finished product. When he gets the strike zone really good with his fastball, he’s got a good breaking ball. It’s a ‘put away’ breaking ball. His command I think will continue to get better.
“They don’t’ swing at him real good and that ball jumps on top of the hitters. I think there’s more in there, too, as he gets confidence and starts believing in himself. The more we run him out there, the better he’s going to be.”
A strong wind helped Newcomb keep two-hard hit balls in the park. Franco and Cameron Rupp smacked high drives that likely would have flown out under normal conditions but instead landed in center fielder Ender Inciarte’s glove at the warning track.
But those were the only Newcomb pitches that the Phillies laced. Herrera’s RBI single was through the middle of the infield. Cesar Hernandez reached on a bunt single in the fifth inning before Newcomb retired Altherr and Nick Williams on weak fly balls.
“I was able to execute my fastball and everything was working off the fastball,” Newcomb said. “Some good change-ups, the off-speed was good. I probably could have threw some more strikes in certain spots but it definitely as a whole went well.”
The Braves took a 2-0 lead against Phillies right-hander Jerad Eickhoff in the first inning. Matt Adams scored Brandon Phillips with a sacrifice fly and Nick Markakis hit an RBI double. The Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth against Eickhoff but could only produce a sacrifice fly by Tyler Flowers before Sean Rodriguez struck out with the bases loaded again.
The Braves had two other good scoring chances against Eickhoff. But Sean Rodriguez struck out to strand two base runners in the first and again with the bases loaded in the fifth.
The Braves chased Eickhoff after five innings but couldn’t convert scoring chances against Phillies relievers.
Johan Camargo was stranded after a lead-off double in the sixth. Flowers was left on base following a one-out double in the seventh. Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play with two base runners in the ninth, and Flowers followed with a strikeout to strand Inciarte at third base.
The Braves stranded 10 base runners and were 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
“We had opportunities to break that thing open more than once and just couldn’t get a big hit,” Snitker said.
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