Roy Oswalt looked anything but one of the four aces while giving up six hits, one walk and five earned runs while lasting just three innings in his first non-quality start of the season Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks.
Oswalt (3-1) kept missing his mark managing to strike out no batters while throwing 57 pitchers being the early shower in the Phillies 7-5 loss at Arizona.
A night after the Phillies offense was shut out to spoil a 12-strikeout night from Cliff Lee, they actually managed to put up five runs on 12 hits. But they failed to deliver a knockout punch to young righty Daniel Hudson who scattered 10 hits to win his first game of the season.
In the first and third the Phils failed to bring home a runner from third base with just one out and in the sixth Shane Victorino struck out with two runners on.
The Phillies biggest opportunity came in the seventh when three Arizona pitchers managed to keep the Phils scoreless despite loading the bases.
The D-Backs also added what turned out to be needed insurance runs by tacking on single runs off relievers Mike Zagurski and David Herndon.
The bright spots for the Phils were reliever Kyle Kendrick who pitched two scoreless, hitless frames; Ryan Howard who went 3-for-4 with a run, RBI and most importantly no strikeouts; and Ben Francisco who had two hits including a ninth inning two-run homer that closed the scoring.
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The Phillies will send Cole Hamels (2-1, 2.92 ERA) to the hill against lefty Joe Saunders (0-2, 4.98 ERA) Wednesday afternoon in hopes of salvaging a win in the desert before heading back to the City of Brotherly Love.
