(SportsNetwork.com) – Aaron Harang will look to rebound on Monday night from
his roughest outing so far with the Philadelphia Phillies as he starts the
opener of a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves.
The veteran right-hander was tagged for season highs of five runs and nine
hits over six innings of a 5-2 loss in St. Louis on Wednesday. He walked only
one batter and fanned six for a third start in a row, but fell to 2-2 on the
year with a 2.51 earned run average.
Harang’s struggles came one start after he shut down his former Braves club in
a no-decision at home on April 24. Harang scattered two hits and a walk over
six scoreless innings.
He is 2-3 with a 3.75 ERA in 12 lifetime encounters with the Braves, who he
made 33 starts with last season.
Philadelphia is aiming to get a winning streak going after halting a five-game
slide with Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Miami Marlins. Ryan Howard keyed the
offense with a pair of RBI and a run scored.
Ben Revere had three hits and drove in one run on his 27th birthday. Severino
Gonzalez picked up his first career win in his second major league start after
holding the Marlins to two runs on five hits over five innings.
“Severino did fine with his five innings. I thought he made some quality
pitches,” said Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said of Gonzalez, who was
optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game.
The Braves will hope young left-hander Alex Wood can rebound tonight from his
first loss of the season.
Wood has not picked up a victory since beating Miami in his season debut on
April 7. He followed up with three straight no-decisions before suffering a
13-4 loss to Washington on Wednesday, charged with five runs on six hits and a
walk over five innings.
The 24-year-old struck out eight, but also served up a three-run hit to
opposing pitcher Jordan Zimmermann. He sits at 1-1 with a 4.03 ERA on the
year.
Wood did not factor into a 1-0 loss in Philadelphia on April 24 despite 5 2/3
scoreless innings. He is 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 10 games (5 starts) against
the Phillies.
The Braves would probably like to see Wood duplicate some of the success Julio
Teheran had in Sunday’s 5-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Teheran limited the
Reds to three hits and two walks over six strong innings while striking out
six.
“We all expected it, to be honest with you,” said Kelly Johnson. “He’s got
some good stuff. He’s a great pitcher and he looked locked in.”
Johnson and Jonny Gomes homered, while the No. 2-6 hitters in Atlanta’s lineup
all scored one run to help the Braves split the four-game set.
The Phillies took two of three at home versus the Braves from April 24-26 and
won six of nine last season in Atlanta.
