Bucs Lifeless In 4-2 Loss to Phils

It was a pretty typical Vanimal 2015 start - he didn't throw well, but dodged a lot of bullets. Today, his defense fell apart, too, committing a couple of errors and a mental miscue or two behind him. Oh, they didn't hit, either, and it added up to an ugly 4-2 loss to the Phil's in a disappointing series split.

Vance Worley lasted just four frames, giving up three runs (two unearned) on eight hits and a walk. Radhames Liz and Bobby LaFramboise finished up, with Liz giving up another run on Ryan Howard's solo homer.

The Bucs left runners on second and third in the first and then sleepwalked through the next seven innings. The highlights of that stretch were a pair of inning-ending ground ball twin killings, a strike 'em out, throw 'em out DP and a plain vanilla caught stealing. Pittsburgh didn't touch home until the ninth when a Starling Marte double brought home Josh and a Pedro ground out plated Marte.

Jeff Locke faces Kyle Hendricks tomorrow afternoon in Chicago.

Josh is starting to feel it again (photo: Getty Images)

• Aaron Harang joined Johnny Cueto as active pitchers with the most wins against Pittsburgh with 17.
• Josh and Starling each had three hits; pinch hitter Corey Hart's single was the only other Pirate knock.
• Charlie Morton is making a rehab start at Indy tonight. It's probably no coincidence that he's working the same day as Worley. Sure looks like Ground Chuck can step right into Vanimal's spot in the rotation with a good start or two.
• Jayson Stark of ESPN thinks Gerrit Cole is an ace in the making.
• PNC Park isn't the top notch yard in the organization. Baseball America picked Indy's Victory Field as the sixth-best park in all the minor leagues.
• Anthony Castrovince of Sports on Earth picks the five most useless stats in baseball; tough to disagree with him on any of them.