Park Suffers Worst Outing of Season
By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
Philadelphia Phillies starter Park Chan-ho had his worst outing of the season and was replaced in the second inning, but the Phillies still managed to beat the Washington Nationals 8-6, Monday (Seoul Time).
The South Korean allowed five runs on five hits and four walks, facing 13 batters through 1 1/3 innings before he was lifted. It was Park's shortest outing of the season after two consecutive quality starts in games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. With the poor start, Park saw his ERA climb to 7.08 from 6.00.
The Phillies gave Park a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to a two-run double by Shane Victorino and an RBI single from Jayson Werth off Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann.
But Park couldn't hold the lead in the bottom of the inning, allowing a two-run double by outfielder Adam Dunn and an RBI-double by Elijah Dukes.
The 35-year-old veteran threw 38 pitches to eight batters in the first inning.
Things didn't get better for Park, who had problems throwing strikes in the second inning. After a single and two walks, Park issued another walk to Dunn to bring home shortstop Cristian Guzman.
With one out, Phillies left-hander Jack Taschner came in to replace Park, but hit outfielder Harris with a pitch to bring home first baseman Nick Johnson to make it 5-3.
However, the defending champions fought back to equalize in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Jimmy Rollins and an RBI double by Chase Utley.
The Phillies allowed one run in the sixth, but fought back again to take the lead with three runs on three hits and a Nationals' error in the eighth.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Park just couldn't seem to find his game.
``He had one of those outings where it seemed like he couldn't get going and nothing he tried worked,'' said Manuel, according to MLB.com.
``I don't know, he's the one that has to correct it by throwing strikes, by keeping his poise, by staying aggressive. He's the one that's got the ball. I don't know how else we can correct it. He's got to correct it in the game,'' added the veteran manger, who led the club to a World Series championship last year.