Blanton, Back-to-Back Homers Lead Phillies Past Padres
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Phillies starter Joe Blanton retired 17 of the first 22 San Diego hitters he faced before giving up back-to-back 2 out Padres homers in the sixth inning before retiring his last 4 hitters in a row. Blanton and back-to-back fifth inning homers led the Phillies past the Padres by a 5-3 score in Monday’s series opener.
The Phillies, by winning, picked up a full game on the Mets who blew a 5-3 lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates as heralded reliever J.J. Putz got noone out in the eighth inning as the Pirates rallied for 5 runs, 4 off of Putz, for an 8-5 win. The Phillies lead in the NL East now stands at 1 1/2 games over the Mets.
The Padres got on the board first against Blanton in the second inning as leftfielder Scott Hairston and rightfielder Brian Giles each singled to begin the inning, with Hairston taking 3rd base on Giles’ single to right. 3td baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff followed by grounding into a doubleplay with Hairston scoring on the play.
But the Phils took a 2-1 lead in the third as starter Kevin Correia made the mistake of walking Blanton to lead off the inning. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins singled Blanton to 2nd base and centerfielder Shane Victorino followed with an RBI single to rightfield scoring Blanton and moving Rollins to 3rd base. 2nd baseman Chase Utley followed with a single to centerfield scoring Rollins with the 2nd run. The Phils could have had more on the board. After 1st baseman Ryan Howard struck out, as he did 4 times in the game, and after leftfielder Raul Ibanez also struck out, Correia walked rightfielder Jayson Werth to load the bases. But 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz struck out as Correia struck out the side despite coughing up 2 runs.
The score remained 2-1 Phillies until the fifth inning when Utley led off against Correia with a homer, his 12th of the season, to rightfield and Howard followed suit with a blast to center, his 15th, as the Phils took a 4-1 lead.
Then Blanton got the first 2 outs in the sixth inning before 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez and Hairston reached him for back-to-back dingers to narrow the Phils’ lead to 4-3. Gonzalez’s homer was his NL-leading 21st homer. But, as indicated above, Blanton recovered to retire the last 4 hitters he faced on a pop-up, ground out, strike out and fly out.
Blanton threw 95 pitches in seven innings to win his 4th game of the season in a fine performance marred only by the back-to-back homers. He gave up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5.
Correia, who lost his 4th game, went 4 1/3 innings giving up 4 runs on 10 hits, including homers to Utley and Howard, while walking 3 and striking out 5.
The Phillies scored an insurance run off of the Padres in the eighth inning on the only 2 hits given up by the bullpen in 4 2/3 innings. Greg Dobbs pinch hit for Blanton with 1 out and doubled to left centerfield. With 2 outs, Victorino drove him in with a double to center.
Meanwhile, lefthanded reliever Scott Eyre and closer Brad Lidge shut the door on the Padres going an inning each with Lidge credited with his 13th save. Phillies Nation’s Tim Malcolm adds commentary on the Phils late game bullpen efforts:
Scott Eyre relieved Blanton and almost finished the whole thing, but his superior effort ended after a leadoff walk in the ninth to Gonzalez. Brad Lidge entered, got Hairston to fly out, received a gift caught stealing by Gonzalez and got an easy final out for his fourth save in as many games.
For all of the scores of Monday’s games, click here.
Recently called-up lefthander Antonio Bastardo faces Padres ace Jake Peavy in Tuesday’s series game 2.
For all of Tuesday’s games, click here.
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