Lee remains winless as Marlins top Phillies
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Cliff Lee remained winless on Friday, as the Phillies fell 6-2 to the Marlins in the opener of a three-game series.
Lee (0-5) gave up all six runs on 10 hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings. The former Cy Young Award winner has yet to earn a victory in 13 starts this season.
"The wins and losses and stuff like that is out of my control, but I could do something about not getting through the fifth inning and giving up five runs," said Lee. "That falls solely on me. I can do better than that."
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Justin Ruggiano went 3-for-4 with a two-run double for the Marlins, who have won two straight but are still just 7-18 in the month of June.
"It seems like we're coming around little by little," Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Today, it seemed like everybody put a little bit together. Everybody contributed."
Josh Johnson (5-5) got the decision, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts over six innings. He has yielded three runs or less in 10 consecutive outings.
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Hunter Pence had a home run and an RBI single for the Phillies, losers of three in a row.
Lee is only the second Cy Young winner in major league history to begin a season without a win in 13 or more starts. While offensive support has been an issue at times, the 33-year-old lefty has certainly been culpable of late, allowing five or more runs in three consecutive starts.
On Friday he gave up a leadoff double to Jose Reyes, who moved to third on a fly ball and scored on Logan Morrison's groundout. Lee had a chance to field Morrison's slow chopper and potentially get Reyes at home, but instead let the ball roll under his glove.
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Reyes struck out to begin the third inning, but four straight hits followed, starting with Hanley Ramirez's double to left. He scored on a base hit by Giancarlo Stanton before a pair of singles loaded the bases. Omar Infante followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
Pence homered in the fourth but a three-run fifth chased Lee and gave the Marlins a sizeable advantage.
A single by Stanton and a ground-rule double by Morrison preceded Ruggiano's deep fly over the head of Shane Victorino in center field. Both runners scored on the two-bagger and Lee was lifted after John Buck singled home Ruggiano for a 6-1 lead.
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Pence scored Chase Utley with a base hit in the ninth. Utley, who missed the Phillies' first 76 games due to a chronic knee condition, went 1-for-3 in his third game back from the injury.
Game Notes
The other former Cy Young Award winner to begin a season without a win in 13 or more starts was Vida Blue, who won the AL Cy Young in 1971 and went 0-5 in 19 appearances -- 14 starts -- for the Royals in 1983...The Phillies have been held to three or fewer runs in 10 of Lee's 13 starts this season...Lee suffered his first career loss to the Marlins. He was previously 2-0 in five starts...Johnson earned his first win over the Phillies in Florida since 2008.