PHOENIX (AP) - Ever since A.J. Burnett found out he had a hernia, he’s been at his best.
Burnett gave Philadelphia a great finish to a good road trip, allowing five hits in eight sharp innings for his first win of the season, 2-0 over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Burnett has an 0.83 ERA in his three outings since he found out he had an inguinal hernia and decided he would forego surgery until the end of the season.
“He said that’s keeping him humble,” catcher Wil Nieves said. “Instead of trying to throw hard, he’s throwing nice and easy.”
“Hopefully, he’ll have the hernia all year,” he kidded.
Nieves, the backup to regular catcher Carlos Ruiz, also was Burnett’s catcher two starts earlier when he gave up three hits in seven scoreless innings against Atlanta. That’s 15 straight scoreless innings for the pairing.
“Man, he’s fun to throw to,” Burnett said. “He has that energy about him that fires you up and locks you in.”
Burnett (1-1) struck out seven with no walks and hit a batter.
“When I got behind, I was able to make the pitch, whether it was a sinker or a curve ball,” he said. “I mixed in one changeup today. … When I’m on, I’m a two-pitch pitcher.”
Burnett has long since deserved a win. He allowed eight runs in his one bad start, five combined in the other five.
“A.J. just doesn’t get flustered with any men on base or anything,” Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said, “just pitches and battles and competes, maybe takes it up a notch, makes quality pitches.”
After beginning its 10-game trip with two messy losses in Colorado, Philadelphia won six of eight to return home a game above .500 (13-12).
“A good ’W,’” Burnett said, “a happy flight.”
Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his eighth save and second in as many games, closing out Saturday night’s 6-5 victory, a game that the Phillies won after trailing 5-0.
On Sunday, chase Utley hit an RBI single in the first, then doubled and scored in the sixth while raising his batting average to .360. The Phillies took two of three from Arizona.
Brandon McCarthy (0-5) struck out a career-high 12 in seven innings. He gave up both runs and seven hits.
“He threw a heck of a game,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. “It was his best game this year by far.”
Still, the Diamondbacks fell to 2-11 at Chase Field this season.
Ben Revere opened the game with a single, stole second and scored when Utley’s fly ball fell between left fielder Cody Ross and center fielder A.J. Pollock for a single.
Gibson said Ross got a bad break on the ball, thinking it was going deeper.
McCarthy shut the Phillies down the next four innings. In the sixth, Utley led off with a double and scored when shortstop Chris Owings made a nice stop on Marlon Byrd’s grounder but threw wildly to third.
Gibson blamed third baseman Martin Prado, saying he didn’t get to the bag.
The Diamondbacks had their chances.
Pollock and Owings opened the fourth with singles, but McCarthy bunted into a force play. Martin Prado bounced into a double play that ended the innings.
In the fourth, Burnett struck out the first two batters before hitting Miguel Montero in the left foot. Montero made it to third on Aaron Hill’s single but first baseman Ryan Howard caught Ross’ sharp grounder to end the threat.
With one out in the third, Owings tripled over the head of Byrd. Burnett helped himself by snagging McCarthy’s sharp grounder, and Gerardo Parra flied out.
Parra doubled with two outs in the eighth but Prado grounded out.
Right after entering the game in the ninth, third baseman Freddy Galvis made a diving stop and threw out Paul Goldschmidt from his knees.
NOTES: The Phillies’ Cody Asche struck out four times. … McCarthy’s previous career best was 10 strikeouts, accomplished three times. … Ruiz had the day off after hitting .393 on the trip with seven RBIs in eight games. … Owings made a diving stab of Utley’s line drive to start the fourth inning. … The Phils open a two-game home series against the New York Mets on Tuesday night. LHP Cole Hamels (0-1, 3.00 ERA) starts for Philadelphia against LHP Jonathon Niese (1-2, 2.45) for New York. … Arizona’s homestand continues with a three-game series against Colorado, Wade Miley (2-2, 4.50) pitches for the Diamondbacks vs. Franklin Morales (2-1, 3.86) Monday. … Goldschmidt was 0 for 4 in the game, 1 for 11 in the series.
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