Reliever Edubray Ramos walked the first two batters of the 11th inning on nine pitches and both men eventually scored as the St. Louis Cardinals broke open a tie game on their way to handing the hapless Phillies an 8-1 defeat on Tuesday night.
Stephen Piscotty had the big hit for St. Louis, a tie-breaking, two-run double against Casey Fien with no outs in the 11th. Both runs were charged to Ramos.
The Cardinals went on to score five more runs in the inning to make it a blowout.
The Phillies dropped to 25 games under .500 at 22-47. They have lost 12 of their last 13.
The Cardinals have just seven wins in June, four against the Phillies.
Philadelphia Phillies
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Starting pitching report
Jeremy Hellickson had his best start since April as he gave up just one run - on a solo homer - over seven innings. He scattered six hits and two walks and struck out four. He was supported by a pair of double plays.
St. Louis right-hander Mike Leake allowed just three hits and a run over six innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Bullpen report
Joaquin Benoit, Hector Neris and Pat Neshek combined on three scoreless innings for the Phillies.
Ramos took the loss. Fien gave up a pair of two-run homers and a two-run double in the 11th as the Cardinals put the game out of reach.
Ramos has walked 19 batters in 29 2/3 innings.
Brett Cecil, Trevor Rosenthal, Seung-hwan Oh, Kevin Siegrist and Sam Tuivailala combined on five scoreless innings for the Cardinals.
At the plate
Leake's only two walks came with no outs in the fourth. Tommy Joseph then hit into a double play. Maikel Franco followed with a single to drive in the Phillies' first run.
Joseph's 14-game hitting streak ended.
The Phillies had just seven hits, all singles. They had just five hits in the first 10 innings.
Jedd Gyorko got the Cardinals on the board with a solo homer against Hellickson in the second inning.
The Cards did the rest of their scoring in the 11th. They got a two-run double from Piscotty, two-run homers from Yadier Molina and Tommy Pham and an RBI double from Matt Carpenter.
Changes made
Michael Saunders and Jeanmar Gomez are out. Hoby Miler and Cameron Perkins are in. The newcomers reflect general manager Matt Klentak's desire to have players who control the strike zone (see story).
Health check
Pitcher Jerad Eickhoff was placed on the 10-day disabled list with what the team called an upper-back strain (see story). Eickhoff complained of some cramping behind his right shoulder two starts ago and experienced a drop in velocity in his last outing on Saturday. Team officials believe Eickhoff could recover quickly and miss just one start, but more will be known in the coming days. The Phillies will need to add a starting pitcher on Friday or Saturday in Phoenix. Mark Leiter Jr. could be in line for the start. He has been working as a starter recently at Triple A and is on the 40-man roster.
Brock Stassi was recalled from Triple A to take Eickhoff's roster spot.
Up next
The series continues on Wednesday night with Nick Pivetta (1-3, 4.46) opposing St. Louis right-hander Michael Wacha (3-3, 4.78).
