PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Philadelphia Phillies manager Larry Bowa said Tuesday that A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett of the Florida Marlins might be the best pair of pitchers his team would face all year. He didn't count on Brad Penny.
Penny allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings as the Marlins snapped the Phillies' four-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory.
"(Penny) was putting pitches where he wanted to," Bowa said. "He didn't leave anything over the plate, he didn't leave anything up. He was getting three pitches over."
Penny (2-1) allowed just a pair of singles to Bobby Abreu while striking out eight and walking three. Three relievers followed, with Braden Looper working the ninth for his second save.
"I was throwing my curveball for strikes," Penny said. "When I'm doing that, I can pitch effectively."
The Phillies finally broke through in the eighth against Michael Tejera, who issued a leadoff walk to Nick Punto. Two outs later, Abreu singled for his third hit of the game and Jim Thome followed with an RBI single.
Vladimir Nunez walked Pat Burrell to load the bases before Mike Lieberthal grounded out.
Phillies starter Brett Myers (0-2) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, walking three and striking out four.
Myers said he was not frustrated by the lack of run support or the fact that he is winless despite a 3.32 ERA.
"You never know when we could explode and get 16 runs, it could happen at any time," he added. "So you just go out there and you just try to give the team the best chance to win the game. That's all you can do. I felt fine out there."
Myers allowed a pair of runs in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Todd Hollandsworth and a fielder's choice by Mike Mordecai. Myers surrendered another run in the fifth when Ivan Rodriguez singled, stole second and scored on Juan Encarnacion's two-out single.
Hollandsworth nearly misplayed David Bell's game-ending line drive to left field with runners at first and second but made the catch.
"I just went back," Hollandsworth said. "The only chance I had was to backpedal."
Hollandsworth had two hits and his first RBI of the season.
