» Phillies Beat Nationals 1-0 on Dobbs’ Pinch Single

Phillies Beat Nationals 1-0 on Dobbs’ Pinch Single

For seven innings, Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels and Nationals Jason Bergmann engaged in a classic pitching duel out of baseball’s yester-years, and then the bullpens took over. The Phillies ‘pen was just a little bit better as pinch hitter Greg Dobbs solved Nationals closer Jon Rauch for a one out single to center to score Eric Bruntlett, who pinch ran for 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz who opened the inning with a double, with the only run of the game as Phils shut out Washington by 1-0.

With the win, and with NL East 1st place Florida Marlins edging Arizona and the Atlanta Braves sweeping a doubleheader from the Mets, the Phils are now tied with Atlanta for 2nd place with the Mets now sitting in 4th place looking up.

For pinch hitting specialist Dobbs, it was his league-leading 10th pinch hit and ninth RBI in 22 pinch at-bats this season.

The AP report for Yahoo sports describes the scene;

A sore back sent Philadelphia’s pinch-hit specialist Greg Dobbs to the batting cage early in Tuesday’s game. He wanted to make sure he kept the blood flowing and didn’t tighten up.

When he was finally called on in the ninth inning of the scoreless game, he didn’t feel any soreness at all.

“I pretty much didn’t feel anything—except the adrenaline and my heart pumping,” Dobbs said.

Dobbs blooped a single to center field… giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 1-0 win

“I was watching Bruntlett out of the corner of my eye,” Dobbs said. “He can run, so there’s no reason to cheat off the bag. I was like, ‘You’re going to score, right? Yeah, you’re going to score.’ It was a relief.”

Dobbs nearly gave the Phillies an insurance run as well. He attempted to score from first on Shane Victorino’s double, but was thrown out at the plate to end the ninth inning.

Hamels was brilliant again in following up on his previous start, a complete game, 4 hit shutout over the Atlanta Braves on May 15th. In seven innings, he again allowed only 4 hits while striking out 11, tying his season high, and walking only 2 in running his scoreless string to 19 innings. He eluded trouble in both the fourth and seventh innings and at one stretch retired 8 straight Nationals hitters. Bergmann was every bit as good in his seven innings, giving up 5 hits, striking out 5 while walking 3, as the Phillies continue to battle offensive lethargy, getting runners on but an inability to push runs across.

The Phillies left 10 runners stranded and 1st baseman Ryan Howard struck out in 3 at bats and walked in his other plate appearance. Howard’s strike out tally thus far is 65 in 191 plate appearances or 34% of the time. He contnues on a pace to strike out 235 times for the season.

Reliever Tom Gordon had little trouble retiring the Nationals in the eight inning to win his 4th game against 2 losses. Closer Brad Lidge, who notched his 11th save, struck out the first 2 batters he faced in the ninth before walking rightfielder Elijah Dukes who proceded to steal 2nd and 3rd base. After walking pinch hitter Rob Mackowiak, Lidge got 2nd baseman Felipe Lopez to ground out to 2nd base to end the game. Lidge has alowed but 1 run in 20 innings this season for a 0.45 ERA. Rauch was charged with the loss for the Nationals.

For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Tuesday’s games, click here.

Wednesday’s final has become a battle of lefthanders as Phillies seek a series win with veteran Jamie Moyer facing Matt Chico who replaces youngster Shawn Hill who, it is reported, had a cortisone shot in his right elbow on Saturday.

The Phillies move on from Washington to Houston for a 4 game series with the Astros before returning home to play Colorado and Florida. In Thursday’s opener with the Astros, Kyle Kendrick opposes Roy Oswalt in a rematch of their April 16th duel which Houston won by a 2-1 score.