Phillies give up five homers in loss; Zach Eflin demoted
Cincinnati roughed up Zach Eflin, who gave up seven runs in an 8-4 defeat. The Phils optioned him to triple A after the game.
Phillies righthander Zach Eflin has been roughed up during May. Now he'll be starting June in triple A.
Eflin, 23, allowed nine hits (including four home runs) and seven earned runs in five innings in an 8-4 loss Sunday to the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park. After the game, he was optioned to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
"There are a lot of things I need to work on, but at the end of the day I am not worried about it," Eflin said. "I am going down there, work on everything I need to work on, and get back here as quick as possible."
The Phillies did not immediately announce a corresponding move but are expected to activate infielder/outfielder Howie Kendrick, who has been on a rehab assignment at Lehigh Valley. Kendrick was placed on the disabled list April 18 with a right abdominal strain.
Manager Pete Mackanin said there is a good chance that Kendrick will be in the starting lineup Monday at Miami against the Marlins.
Eflin had a 1.89 ERA in three April starts. His May ERA was 9.00 after he allowed 28 earned runs and 48 hits in 28 innings.
Mackanin said Sunday's performance factored a lot into the decision to option Eflin.
"His last three starts, including today, he was elevating his sinker, and once you elevate that sinker, it doesn't have the effect you would like it to have," said Mackanin, whose team has won only six of its last 28 games. "He needs to work on a few things, keeping the ball down, working on his secondary stuff, and he needs to go down there and get back to where he was."
The Reds, off to a fairly surprising 24-25 start, hit a season-high five home runs, including two each by Adam Duvall and Patrick Kivlehan.
The Phillies (17-31) have lost nine consecutive series after the Reds took two of three games this weekend. It was the Reds' first series win at Citizens Bank Park since August 2006. They were 0-9-1 since then in series played in Philadelphia before this weekend.
Duvall opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning, but he was obviously just getting warmed up. Scott Schebler made it 2-0 in the second with his 15th homer of the season on a 1-0 fastball that he crushed to center field.
Andrew Knapp hit a three-run home run to center field to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead in the second inning. Knapp, who hit a 77-mph curveball off righthander Scott Feldman, drove in Tommy Joseph and Michael Saunders, who both singled.
"I just was trying not to strike out, to be honest with you, but he hung the curveball and I got it in the air and it was a good one," said Knapp, who battled back to 2-2 after being down 0-2 in the count.
Freddy Galvis then hit an opposite-field double to left field and scored on a single by Eflin, his first career RBI.
Duvall tied the score with a two-run blast to left off Eflin's 94-mph, four-seam fastball in the third.
The Reds took a 5-4 lead when Kivlehan led off the fourth with a homer to center. Duvall's two-run homer, his 13th, made it 7-4 in the fifth. That came on an 0-2 pitch and was the seventh home run the Phillies have allowed this year on 0-2 counts.
Kivlehan, who entered the game with one home run, hit a solo shot to left field in the ninth off Jeanmar Gomez, which snapped the bullpen's scoreless streak at 222/3 innings. It all contributed to another difficult weekend for both the Phillies and their now-demoted starting pitcher.
@sjnard