Phillies Beat Cardinals as Rout Nearly Turns Into Disaster
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The Phillies pounded Cardinals pitchers for 5 homeruns, including 2 each by centerfielder Aaron Rowand and 1st baseman Ryan Howard, one of Howards’ being a 6th inning grand slam which built the Phillies lead to 11-0. Pinch hitter Shane Victorino added the 12th run in the 8th inning with an RBI sacrifice fly.
But the rout nearly turned around into a near total Phillies collapse by the 8th inning as the Cards scored 11 runs between the 6th and 8th innings. With the Phils clinging to a 12-11 lead, only Aaron Rowand’s tumbling catch of Ryan Ludwick’s two on, two out drive to the centerfield warning track saved the Phillies from a complete disastrous turnabout reminiscent of the infamous Mitch Williams game 4 of the 1993 World Series.
But Rowand pounded his 2nd homer of the game in the 9th inning and relievers Fabio Castro and Francisco Rosario combined to preserve the win, although Rosario gave up a hit and issued a walk. With two out, Rosario took the count to 3-2 on 3rd baseman Russell Branyan before striking him out looking to end the game and earning his first career save. The 13-11 win was the Phillies 5th straight.
With the win, combined with Washington’s 12-4 pounding of the Mets, the Phils pulled to within 2 1/2 games of the NL East leaders. They also remained 1 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL wild card race. The Padres shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Phils hold a 1 1/2 game lead over the 3rd place Dodgers who were off on Monday.
AP sports writer R.B. Fallstrom recaps the game for Yahoo sports;
Both of Howard’s homers, giving him 40 on the year, went to the opposite field. He connected on the first pitch of the second from Brad Thompson (6-6), and lined a 1-2 pitch from [Anthony] Reyes into the visitor’s bullpen in left in the sixth.
[Kyle] Kendrick (9-4) gave up three runs and seven hits. The 23-year-old right-hander is tied with the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo for the NL lead in victories by a rookie and has won both of his starts against the Cardinals, also beating them on July 13 with a career-best seven innings.
“I lost focus a little bit, left some balls up, and they’re going to hit them,” Kendrick said. “I’ll learn from that.”
Rowand and Jimmy Rollins also homered in the fourth, and Howard’s fifth career grand slam off reliever Anthony Reyes in the sixth made it 11-0. But the Cardinals responded with three of their own in the sixth, six more in the seventh and two runs in the eighth.
“It was one of the better almosts that I can remember in all the years I’ve managed,” manager Tony La Russa said.
The Cardinals beat up on a bullpen missing the Phillies’ top three relievers — Brett Myers, Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero — unavailable because of frequent use. Myers and Gordon had pitched the previous three days.
“I know they needed the rest and things like that. Yeah I wanted to put them in, you’re damn right,” Manuel said. “I wanted to put all three of them in.”
Ludwick hit a two-run homer and Albert Pujols had an RBI single in the sixth, Kyle Kendrick’s final inning, and Pujols and Aaron Miles had two RBIs apiece as the Cardinals jumped on Clay Condrey in the seventh.
Rick Ankiel had a sacrifice fly in the seventh for his first RBI since reports surfaced that he purchased a year’s supply of human growth hormone in 2004. Ankiel hit two homers and had seven RBIs on Sept. 6, but was 4-for-33 the next 10 games.
Thompson was the first of consecutive fill-in starters for the drooping Cardinals, with La Russa committed only to Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper and Joel Pineiro the rest of the way. Thompson lasted 3 1-3 innings and allowed four runs, three earned, in only his second start since July 28.
One possibility as to why the Phils’ top three relievers were not used comes in two MLB.com reports that Tom Gordon experienced a slight twinge of back pain during his appearance in Sunday’s final series game with the Mets. Gordon, however, insisted on Monday that “I don’t feel bad today.”
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this and all of Monday’s games, click here.
There’s great news for the Phillies as ace lefthander Cole Hamels makes his return from the DL to go for his 15th win in Tuesday’s game 2 opposed by Todd Wellemeyer who replaces hapless Kip Wells (6-17).
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on all of Tuesday’s games, click here.
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