Hamels Tosses 7 Inning One-Hitter As Phillies Win
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Young ace lefthander Cole Hamels was brilliant, tossing a 1 hitter over seven innings, the bullpen held and shut down the Chicago Cubs and both 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz and first baseman Ryan Howard socked 2 run homers off of lefthander Ted Lilly as the Phillies pounded the Cubs on Saturday by a 7-1 score.
However the Phillies, already missing shortstop Jimmy Rollins who has sat out since Tuesday with a sprained ankle, got more bad news. AP Sports Writer Rob Maaddi reports for Yahoo sports that centerfielder Shane Victorino;
left the game with a strained right calf after grounding out to end the sixth and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
A similar injury sidelined Victorino three weeks last August and hampered him the final month. The short-handed Phillies called up outfielder Chris Snelling from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take Victorino’s spot.
Victorino made a leaping catch against the center-field wall on DeRosa’s drive in the second. Manuel thinks Victorino injured his calf making that play.
Victorino had gone 2 for 4 and scored a run in the game before leaving.
In the 2nd inning, after leftfielder Pat Burrell walked, Feliz socked a 2 run homer, his second of the season to put the Phillies up 2-0. The Phils could have had more in the inning as Hamels helped his cause with a two-out double to centerfield and Victorino singled putting Hamels on 3rd base. Rightfielder Jayson Werth walked to load the bases, but 2nd baseman Chase Utley popped out to 2nd base to retire the side.
In the fifth inning, the Phillies scored 3 more runs as Victorino opened with a single to centerfield. Utley doubled to right sending Victorino to 3rd base with none out. Cubs starter and losing pitcher Lilly uncorked a wild pitch scoring Victorino. Howard followed by pounding his third homer and the Phils were up 5-0. At this point, Lilly hit the showers relieved by Kevin Hart who walked Burrell but then got Feliz to ground into a doubleplay to end the inning.
Lilly’s line for 4 1/3 innings was 5 runs, 7 hits, including the dingers given up to Feliz and Howard, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts.
Hart held the Phillies in check on one hit through 2 2/3 innings of work. But the Phillies touched reliever Bob Howry for 2 runs in the eighth inning as late game defensive replacement leftfielder So Taguchi and Jayson Werth, who moved over to centerfield to replace Victorino, both doubled driving in the 6th and 7th runs.
The Cubs scored their only run in the eighth inning off of reliever Ryan Madson on an RBI single to rightfield by leftfielder Alfonso Soriano.
Hamels was never in any trouble through the game although the Cubs slammed some solid drives to all fields which went for long outs. But he seemed to get stronger as the game went on culminating in the seventh inning when he struck out Aramis Ramirez and catcher Geovany Soto, both swinging and got rightfieler Mark DeRosa on an infield pop out. Hamels tossed 11 pitches in 7 innings, 72 of which were for strikes.
Hamels, who is now 2-1 for the season, sports an unreal 0.82 ERA thus far. AP’s Maaddi notes;
Hamels is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in his last three starts against the Cubs.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Saturday’s games, click here.
In Sunday’s series finale, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by Cubs’ Jason Marquis who was scratched from his originally scheduled Friday start due to illness. The Phillies have an open date on Monday before entertaining the Houston Astros for 3 games on Tuesday through Thursday.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Sunday’s games, click here.
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