Cole Hamels looks strong, but Phillies fall to Marlins, 5-1

MIAMI - Cole Hamels grabbed his things and began to walk out of the clubhouse at a brisk pace.

Then he turned around, went back to his locker to retrieve something, but again left the room without taking part in the standard practice of talking to the media after a start.

It was difficult to blame Hamels. There really wasn't a whole lot he could say after showcasing what his pitching coach called "electric" stuff, yet not having a whole lot to show for it in the latest Phillies loss with him on the mound.

Hamels didn't show up for the postgame interview, but his offense, except for Domonic Brown, failed to make an appearance in nine innings in Miami as the Phillies suffered a 5-1 defeat to the lowly Marlins.

The Phils are 1-9 in games started by Hamels (1-7). Following last night, when he allowed two runs in six innings, Hamels has a 3.12 ERA in his last eight starts. His seven losses are one more than he had all last season.

"I think it's a lot of tight ballgames, his contract," pitching coach Rich Dubee said when asked if Hamels has been frustrated. "He's an accountable guy just like Doc [Roy Halladay]. He's probably one of the bigger faces of the Phillies, and he wants to be accountable for that, and not winning probably weighs on him, and I think losing Doc weighs on him. We're down one of our aces and I think that's weighed on him, too. Again, this is an accountable guy who wants to win."

Hamels hasn't had many opportunities to win. The last time he pitched with a lead came more than 6 weeks ago, on his first start at Citizens Bank Park against the Kansas City Royals.

The Phillies scored eight runs that night. They have scored a grand total of 15 runs in the eight games Hamels has started since that day.

The only run they scored last night came when Brown hit his team-leading eighth home run in the second inning.

"It's very tough on me," Brown said. "And I'm pretty sure it's tough on everyone else, too. Ten [strikeouts], no walks and we only put up one run. We've just got to do a better job."

After saving another team-wide, poor offensive effort a day earlier, the Galvis and Kratz Show arrived a couple innings early at Marlins Park.

Freddy Galvis, the utility infielder called into a starting role because of an injury, worked a one-out walk against Marlins starter Alex Sanabia in the seventh inning. After falling behind in the count after three pitches, Erik Kratz, also in the lineup because of injury, followed by working a full count before astutely going with the pitch and punching a base hit to right, moving Galvis to third.

Galvis and Kratz, Sunday's ninth-inning, home-run heroes at Citizens Bank Park, worked together to put the game-tying run 90 feet from home with less than two outs. The bottom of the order once again attempted to breathe life into a comatose offense.

But both remained on base when pinch-hitter Laynce Nix popped out to shallow right and Jimmy Rollins grounded the first pitch he saw to second, and the Phillies went down meekly in each of the next two innings, too.

The Phils' offense managed to out-Marlin the Marlins. Miami entered the night without a household name in the starting lineup and was 20 games under .500 (12-32). They had scored nine runs in their previous six games and a major league-low 117 runs, an average of 2.66 runs per game.

They entered the game having scored two runs or less in 28 in their 44 games.

But the Marlins outscored the Phillies. Matched up against Sanabia, a 24-year-old with a 5.00 ERA in eight starts, the Phils scored one run.

The Phillies have scored two runs or fewer in 18 of their 45 games this season (40 percent).

"That makes it tough [to win]," manager Charlie Manuel said. "That makes it real tough."

And unlike the Marlins, the Phillies are getting that kind of lackluster production out of a regular lineup that has included as many as five former All-Stars and with an Opening Day payroll over $100 million richer.

"It's May," Brown said. "It's time to get going. It's got to start [tonight]. And that's a tough guy [Marlins rookie Jose Fernandez] we're facing. We've got to hit some balls hard."

Hamels was once again the recipient of a poor showing from his teammates.

One start removed from giving up five runs in five innings in a loss to the Indians, Hamels was back on track. After walking 13 batters in his previous four starts, taking the National League lead, Hamels didn't walk a batter last night while reaching a double-digit strikeout total for the 22nd time in his career.

"I think today was a big breakthrough," Dubee said. "I think you saw electric stuff. I think it got to the point where instead of pitching away from bats and worrying about not getting runs, he got back into the mode of attacking. No walks, one three-ball count - to the last hitter he faced. That's Cole Hamels' style."

It's not Hamels' style to accept losing, either. And he walked out without a word after his most recent defeat.