Lee Dazzles in Debut as Phillies Beat Giants
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Newly acquired Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee lived up to his projected ace status on Friday by sparkling in his NL debut going the full nine innings against San Francisco and giving up but 1 run on 4 hits. Rightfielder Jayson Werth solo homered in the second inning off of Ryan Sadowski and drove in 2 more runs in the seventh while the 2008 Cy Young winner, himself, singled twice and scored his 1st career run as Lee dazzled in his debut and Phillies beat the Giants by a 5-1 score to draw even in their series at 1 game apiece.
With the win, the Phils maintained a 6 game lead over 2nd place Florida in the NL East as the Marlins won. Atlanta lost and dropped to 8 games back in 3rd place while the Mets lost and dropped to 10 1/2 back in 4th place.
Lee carried a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings as the only Giants who reached did so on walks. At one stretch he retired 11 Giants in a row between centerfielder Aaron Rowand’s second inning doubleplay grounder and 2nd baseman Juan Uribe’s one out sixth inning double which broke up the no-hit bid.
AP sports writer Janie McCauley noted Lee’s comments on his debut performance in recapping the game for Yahoo sports:
“I’m kind of glad I didn’t throw a no-hitter…. If I did that the first time, I’d have to live up to some high expectations.”
Jayson Werth homered to put Philadelphia ahead early and added a two-run single in the seventh, Raul Ibanez drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh for an insurance run and Lee did the rest.
He [Lee] dazzled from the start… tossing his 11th career complete game, fourth this season and third in four starts. Lee’s line: one run, six strikeouts, two walks, 109 pitches and 78 strikes. He was done in 2 hours, 39 minutes, getting a hug from catcher Paul Bako afterward and tucking the game ball in his back pocket as a keepsake.
He struck out Randy Winn looking on a 93 mph fastball on his third pitch of the game and was through that [first] inning on all of nine pitches.
His defense also was spot on, with Lee hustling forward on Edgar Renteria’s eighth-inning sacrifice bunt and quickly firing to first.
Lee doubled in the eighth for his first career extra-base hit and that gave him his first multihit game—and doubled his previous career hit total.
“I got the first hit and I was pretty pumped about that but you get a double off the wall in the opposite-field gap, I totally never expected that,” Lee said.
…All-Star CF Shane Victorino was held out of the lineup for the second straight game with a bruised left knee. The injury forced him to leave Wednesday’s 4-0 loss at Arizona in the seventh inning.
Fittingly, it was [subbing centerfielder] Ben Francisco—who also came to the Phillies from the Indians on Wednesday—whose sacrifice fly helped Lee score his first career run.
Lee faced only two three-ball counts until the seventh on a cool night at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark, where an eerie mist hovered over the field for much of the game. He had thrown only 13 balls among his first 54 pitches.
Giants starter and losing pitcher Sadowski completed four innings giving up only 1 run, on Werth’s second inning solo shot, while giving up 3 hits. He walked 3 and struck out 3 while throwing 83 pitches. 5 Giant relievers gave up 4 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3 through the rest of the game.
Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr adds these comments about Lee:
After a 4-6-3 game ending double play, Cliff Lee was handed the baseball and stuck it in his back pocket. In his much anticipated Philadelphia Phillies debut, Lee absolutely dominated the San Francisco Giants.
He located and mixed his pitches very well and wasn’t afraid to throw any pitch in his repertoire…. Lee put on a show that kept everybody on the east coast awake.
As centerfielder Shane Victorino’s bruised knee woes continue, the acquisition of Ben Francisco in the deal for Cliff Lee couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. It kinda brings back memories of 2007 when 2nd baseman Chase Utley went down for a month and Tadahito Iguchi was acquired and came on replacing Utley at 2nd base hitting .304 as the Phils scarely skipped a beat at 2nd base.
For the scores of all of Friday’s games, click here.
Joe Blanton, bumped by lefthander Cliff Lee’s great debut, goes on Saturday opposing Giant ace Tim Lincecum.
For all of Saturday’s games, click here.
Hat tip to Phillies Nation for the Cliff Lee picture.
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