Atlanta Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar mishandles the ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies’ Pedro Feliz in the second inning.
Casey Kotchman’s three-run homer in the ninth inning made the final score seem a little more respectable, but the Braves were never closer than four runs after the second inning.
“You’ve got to be able to cover up a mistake now and then, and we didn’t do it,” manager Bobby Cox said, referring to the four-run second inning, when Reyes failed to shut the floodgates after shortstop Yunel Escobar’s two-out error.
Brian McCann had a two-run single for the Braves in his first game off the 15-day disabled list, and Chipper Jones extended his hitting streak against the Phillies to 28 games. Omar Infante added an eighth-inning homer.
But there wasn’t much else to recommend from the performance of the Braves, who had six hits and two errors and snapped a modest two-game winning streak.
Reyes dropped to 0-9 with a 6.61 earned-run average in 18 games (17 starts) since his last win nearly 11 months ago. He has allowed seven homers in 11 innings during his past three games at Philadelphia.
All of the Phillies’ runs in a four-run second were unearned after errors by Escobar and Reyes, who made a questionable decision to field Cole Hamels’ bases-loaded dribbler near the first-base line.
The other runs against Reyes (0-2) came on Jayson’s two-run homer in the third inning and homers by Chris Coste in the fourth and Chase Utley in the fifth.
Reyes is 0-3 with a 6.99 ERA in six games (three starts) against the Phillies, and has served up nine homers in 18 1/3 innings in his past four games against them.
Cole Hamels (1-2) gave up just two runs and three hits in six innings.
Hamels hit the bases-loaded dribbler in the second that looked like it might roll foul. But Reyes fielded it and threw over first baseman Kotchman’s head to let in two runs. Jimmy Rollins followed with a two-run double for a 4-0 lead.
Cox thought Hamels should have been called for interference for running inside the baseline, but replays didn’t show much, if anything, to support that.
“It was one of those where if we could do it over, he’d let it go foul,” McCann said. “He thought he could make a play, and it sailed on him. He had no window to throw. Looking back, he probably should have let it go.”
Reyes didn’t see it that way.
“I wish I would have hit [Hamels],” Reyes said. “Then maybe they would have seen something different. I looked at the replay, and he’s inside the baseline.”
There were two outs and one on in the inning when Escobar misplayed a Pedro Feliz grounder. Reyes walked the next batter, Coste, to bring up Hamels.
Hamels retired the first 12 batters before Jones’ two-out hit in the fourth.
Jones has hit safely in 28 consecutive games against the Phillies, the longest streak by a Braves player against one opponent since at least 1954, according to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
Garret Anderson doubled before McCann’s two-run single through the infield.
