ATLANTA — A few hours before Friday night's game against the Atlanta Braves, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin had some words of praise for his starting pitcher, Ben Lively.
"He's just very competitive," Mackanin said of the 25-year-old right-hander. "His stuff is pretty ordinary, but he's deceptive in his delivery and he locates his fastball well.
"He's the kind of guy if you ever got in a fight with him, you'd have to kill him because he never gives up."
Lively lived up to some of his manager's words Friday night, but not all of them.