CINCINNATI _ Soon after the grounds crew removed the eight tractors that pinned the white tarp to the field at Great American Ballpark, the Phillies again flaunted their patience. They had bled Cincinnati's Opening-Day starter, Scott Feldman, for 27 pitches in the first inning two days earlier. On Wednesday, they forced Brandon Finnegan to throw 25 pitches to achieve the first three outs without a run to show for it.
That concluded the offense's production in a 2-0 loss to the Reds.
It was a night that resembled so many from a season ago, with a thin margin for Jerad Eickhoff that plummeted with one bad pitch to an exceptional hitter. Nineteen Phillies were retired in a row; the lineup went six innings between runners on base.
The measured approach from the first inning did not linger.
Finnegan, a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher, silenced the Phillies with one hit in his seven innings. He walked one. He struck out nine. He generated a series of awkward swings and puzzled looks.
So did Eickhoff, until he hung a 1-0 curveball in the seventh to Joey Votto, a man who crushes hanging curveballs. Eickhoff stepped to the slope of the mound and watched the ball fly. He did not show emotion until a few minutes later, when his outing was done, and he stewed in the Phillies dugout.
He deserved better, although it is a familiar feeling for the young pitcher. Since Eickhoff made his major-league debut in August 2015, the Phillies have supported him with zero or one runs in 18 starts. Only the Yankees' Michael Pineda has endured more such starts.
The Phillies have high expectations for Eickhoff, who was slotted as the fourth starter last season and started the second game this season. He emerged as the most dependable presence in the rotation. The 26-year-old right-handed pitched his best when his teammates supported him the least, and that happened often in 2016.
Eickhoff made 33 starts last season. The Phillies, in 13 of them, scored two or fewer runs of support. But Eickhoff kept them in the game with a 2.99 ERA and strong strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He did not possess his best stuff Wednesday. Eickhoff needed just 66 pitches to complete six innings, but he did not fire as many strikes as he typically does. The Reds, a rebuilding team much like the Phillies, helped him with some poor swings when ahead in the count.
Finnegan, after the stressful first inning, encountered no trouble. He threw 30 pitches in the next three innings. New Phillies hitting coach Matt Stairs, in conjunction with manager Pete Mackanin, has implored the team's batters to "grind out at-bats." Against Finnegan, the Phillies went after many of his first pitches. They walked once _ Howie Kendrick in the game's second plate appearance. Their three hits after the seventh inning were all infield singles.
The middle of the order, so powerful in Monday's opener, fell quiet Wednesday. With a lefty on the mound and a desire to somehow insert all of his players in the first week, Mackanin sat Michael Saunders for Aaron Altherr in right field. That pushed Tommy Joseph to fifth, behind Maikel Franco.
It could be two weeks before the Phillies see another left-handed starter. Mackanin insisted he was not
"I'm not platooning Saunders," Mackanin said. "I'm not doing that. When I spoke to him about it, he asked me if I was going to platoon him. I said, 'No. I just have to get these guys some games.' "
The combination on Wednesday did not thrive. So, with a matinee game Thursday, Mackanin will opt for a different lineup. The bar, after a grand total of four runs in two games, is low.
