Phillies Beat Marlins on Rowand’s Homer, Lohse Gets First Phillies Win
|
|
|
|
|
Recently acquired starter Kyle Lohse went 6 1/3 innings winning his first game as a Phillie and helping his own cause with an RBI single. The bullpen was one hit from total perfection and centerfielder Aaron Rowand belted his 18th homer in the 6th inning to drive in the 2 winning as the Phillies defeated hapless lefthander Dontrelle Willis and the Florida Marlins by a 6-4 score.
With the win, the Phillies moved up to 2nd place and remained 4 games behind the NL East 1st place Mets who defeated the Atlanta Braves by a 4-3 score. The Braves dropped to 3rd place, 1/2 game behind the Phillies.
The Phillies scored first on shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield in the 2nd inning.
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston picks up the scoring narration for Yahoo sports;
Not even his two-run homer could save the former 20-game winner from extending the longest losing streak of his career. Willis is 0-9 with four no-decisions while the Marlins have gone 3-10 in his outings since his last victory on May 29 at the Chicago Cubs.
“I’m still playing with the same intensity and I’m having fun out there,” Willis said. “I don’t ever want to change.”
Willis’ seventh career homer staked the Marlins to a 2-1 lead in the third. Then the Marlins wilted in the 95-degree temperature, while the Phillies kept pace in their hunt for the NL East and wild-card lead.
Lohse gave up Miguel Cabrera’s 28th homer [in the 4th inning], but stayed away from the line drives that knocked him out of his last start. He left after one inning in his Phillies debut with a bruised right forearm after he was hit by a liner.
He exited this one after 6 1-3 innings and the Phillies holding a 6-3 lead. He gave up six hits, walked three and struck out three to help Philadelphia win its third straight game.
“As long as you stay out of the big inning, I think you’ve done your job,” Lohse said.
Much like Willis did an inning earlier, Lohse helped his own cause with the bat in the third. He poked an RBI single to right that put the Phillies up 3-2. Jimmy Rollins, who hit a sacrifice fly in the second, added a run-scoring single to center to make it 4-2.
No surprise that Lohse, acquired in a trade deadline deal from Cincinnati, drove home a run on a hit. Phillies pitchers lead baseball with 41 hits and have 12 RBIs.
Lohse said he heard some good-natured ribbing from his teammates once he finished the first inning without adding more bruises to his arm.
“For his first time pitching here, he did pretty good,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Willis, who gave up five runs in 5 1-3 innings, worked his way out of some jams early to at least give himself a shot at that elusive eighth victory. The Phillies left 14 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the first and at least two on in every inning except the fifth and eighth.
Willis was chased in the sixth after Ryan Howard hit a long single to left.
Justin Miller came in, and Rowand hit Miller’s second pitch deep into the Phillies bullpen for his 18th homer of the season and a 6-3 lead.
Lohse left the game in the 7th, after a double and single put Marlins runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, and wasreplaced by reliever Antonio Alfonseca. Alfonseca retired the side after getting Jason Wood, pinch hitting for reliever Miller, to ground into a fielder’s choice for the 2nd out with the 4th Marlins run scoring.
Then Tom Gordon and Brett Myers took over to shut down the Marlins in the 8th and 9th inings respectively. Myers earned his 8th save by striking out the side in the 9th while allowing outfielder Jeremy Hermida’s single to rightfield which was sandwiched in-between the strikeouts.
Relievers Taylor Tankersley and Armando Benitez finished up for the Marlins holding the Phillies scoreless in the 7th and 8th innings respectively. Tankersley worked out of a one out, runners on 1st and 2nd jam in the 7th and Benitez surrendered a lead off triple in the 8th to outfielder Jayson Werth who was rubbed out in a doubleplay at home on catcher Carlos Ruiz’s fly ball to rightfield.
The Phillies got 13 hits in the game. Rollins, 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi, Rowand and Werth each had 2 hits in the game.
For the scores, boxscores on this and all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
In the series finale on Thursday, rookie Kyle Kendrick goes for his 6th win against Sergio Mitre.
On Friday, the Philies open a crucial 3 game weekend series at home with NL East Division implications against the Atlanta Braves.
For the scores, boxscores on all of Thursday’s games, click here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |