Kendrick Gets Early Offensive Lift as Phillies Beat Rockies
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The Phillies offense jumped on Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez early sending 16 batters to the plate and scoring 7 runs in the first two innings as Kyle Kendrick had one of his best starts of 2008 and the Phils bullpen nailed down the 7-4 win over Colorado in game 2 of their series.
The Phillies win, coupled with the Mets win over the NL East leading Florida Marlins and the Braves narrow loss to the Brewers, left the Phillies alone in 2nd place, 1 1/2 behind Florida, 1 game ahead of the 3rd place Braves and 4 games ahead of 4th place New York.
Kyle Kendrick went a career-best 7 1/3 innings and the bullpen closed out the Rockies after the offense shot out of the box with 7 runs in the first two innings against Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez who has struggled the entire season thus far. The AP recap for Yahoo sports describes the Phillies early inning uprising;
[Greg] Dobbs, replacing left fielder Pat Burrell who was a late scratch with a stiff neck, hit a two-run single to right and [Pedro] Feliz added a two-run double to left that gave Philadelphia a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Geoff Jenkins knocked in runs in the second. Jimmy Rollins singled to center and scored on Utley’s double to right. Utley scored on Howard’s single and Jenkins followed with a double.
After the second inning, the Phils managed just 3 baserunners, 2 on singles and a walk, for the rest of the game against Jimenez and the Rockies bullpen, which was ravaged in Tuesday’s rout.
Meanwhile, Kendrick had little problem with the Rockies through the first three innings, got into a little hot water in a 2 on, 2 out situation in the fourth inning before striking out catcher Yorvit Torrealba to retire the side.
In the fifth, Kendrick got into more hot water as the Rockies scored their first run on a ground out. But after a single and a walk put Kendrick in another 2 out, 2 out pickle, he got 3rd baseman Garrett Atkins to fly out to end the threat.
After retiring the next 6 batters he faced through the sixth and seventh innings, rightfielder Seth Smith, who had 3 hits for the game, opened the eighth inning with a double to deep rightfield followed by 1st baseman Todd Helton’s single to leftfield. But recently called-up late-game leftfield replacement T.J. Bohn nailed Smith at home saving a run.
The AP recap notes;
Kendrick (4-2), using a sinking fastball to induce ground balls, allowed two runs and seven hits while striking out five and walking one. He previously had gone seven innings seven times in his career.
“(Kendrick) had pretty good command, worked both sides of the plate and took us to a good place in the game,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Reliever Tom Gordon was then sent in to replace Kendrick. After Helton advanced to 2nd base on a Gordon wild pitch and Atkins grounded out sending Helton to 3rd, leftfielder Ryan Spilborghs clubbed his 2nd homer in two games, a two run shot to leftfield to narrow the lead to 7-3. After another double and single put runners at 2nd and 3rd, Gordon got a groundout to retire the side.
Helton drove in the 4th Rockies run with a 2 out single in the ninth off of closer Brad Lidge. After Helton advanced to 2nd base on fielder’s indifference, Lidge retired Atkins on a fly out to rightfield to end the game.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Tuesday’s games, click here.
The Phillies hope for a sweep in Wednesday’s final, rookie Greg Reynolds opposes Adam Eaton who has struggled in recent starts and has yet to win a game in 2008.
After the Rockies, the Phillies have the day off on Thursday before entertaining the Florida Marlins starting Friday for 3 games. In Friday’s opener, 6′9″ 34 year old lefthander Mark Hendrickson, with a 7-2 record, faces a disappointing Brett Myers with a 2-6 record.
After the Marlins, the Cincinnati Reds come to town for 3 games starting next Monday.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Wednesday’s games, click here.
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