Amid slump, Odubel Herrera hits first home run

When Odubel Herrera stepped to the plate in Monday's ninth inning, the Phillies centerfielder did so on the heels of six consecutive at-bats that ended via a strikeout.

Herrera appeared on his way to another strikeout against Pirates closer Mark Melancon. He quickly fell behind, 0-2, before fouling off three consecutive pitches, the third of which caromed off his right foot and caused him to fall. He then sent Melancon's 81 m.p.h. breaking ball over the right-field fence for his first major league home run.

The homer, which went for naught in a 4-3 Phillies loss, snapped an 0-for-12 skid. Herrera has struck out 14 times in his last 24 at-bats. Four of his last six games have been three-strikeout performances. The recent struggles began when around the time he snapped his 18-game on-base streak over the weekend.

"He has a lot of body going forward and he seems to be between the fastball and the breaking pitches," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Sometimes you get your first home run out of the way, sometimes that makes a difference in things, too. He needs to think line-drive stroke and gap to gap. So hopefully he’ll relax a little bit.”