Cliff Lee will look to rebound from a rough outing as he gets the start for the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night in the opener of a quick two-game set with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Lee is winless in his past three outings and is coming off his worst start since he won a 14-10 decision at Texas on March 31 despite giving up eight runs over five innings.
On Wednesday in Toronto, the veteran lefty allowed six runs on seven hits, two homers and a walk in 6 1/3 frames of a 10-0 setback. Five of the runs he allowed came in the seventh frame.
"It was just one of those innings where they hit everything," Lee said. "They didn't miss a pitch."
Lee fell to 3-3 with a 3.64 earned run average on the campaign. The 35-year- old is 7-4 lifetime against the Angels with a 2.95 ERA in 12 starts.
The Phillies appeared headed towards a three-game sweep of the New York Mets over the weekend, but the bullpen could not hold a late lead and Philadelphia ended up dropping a 5-4 decision in 11 innings. New York scored three runs in the ninth inning to tie it before Ruben Tejada's walk-off hit in the 11th.
The Angels also fell short of a sweep, but in less heart-breaking fashion. They took the first three games of their series with the Blue Jays, but were bested 7-3 in Monday's finale.
C.J. Cron homered for the Angels, while C.J. Wilson struck out eight but yielded five runs on six hits to absorb the loss.
"Tough to lose any game, but overall I think we played a good series," said Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen, who pitched a scoreless inning in relief. "The bats were hot, we scored a lot of runs."
With Hector Santiago getting sent to the bullpen after going 0-6 with a 5.09 ERA to begin the season, the Angels will summon Matt Shoemaker from Triple-A to fill the starting void tonight.
Shoemaker, a 27-year-old righty made three relief appearances earlier this season with the Angels, going 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA. He made his MLB debut last season with a start and did not get a decision.
Shoemaker, who last pitched for the Angels on April 12, is 1-0 in five starts at Triple A this season but with a 6.31 ERA.
"I think Matt will be valuable," Angels manager Mike Scioscia told his club's website. "He's been throwing the ball well his last couple of outings down there and hopefully he'll come in here and give us the game we need. Obviously there's a void in our rotation that we need filled and we'll see how Matt does."
The Angels and Phillies have not met since Los Angeles swept a three-game set in Philadelphia in 2008. The Angels have won five in a row in the series.
[SportsNetwork.com]
