Phillies Edge Cubs in Twelve Innings on Francisco’s Homer
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Phillies rightfielder Ben Francisco may have shown that star lefthander Cliff Lee may not have been the only steal in the deal with Cleveland. Francisco led off the twefth inning of Tuesday’s series opener with the winning homer off of Chicago closer Kevin Gregg as the Phillies edged the Cubs by a 4-3 score in twelve innings.
With the extra-inning win, the Phillies clung to a 3 1/2 game lead in the NL East division over 2nd place Florida and a 4 1/2 game lead over 3rd place Atlanta, both of whom won. The 4th place Mets dopped to 11 games back with their loss to Arizona.
Young lefthander J.A. Happ and Rich Harden dueled through six innings with shortstop Jimmy Rollins wiping out a 2-0 deficit with a 2 out, 2 run homer in the sixth following a walk to catcher Carlos Ruiz.
With 2 out in the eighth inning and with Ruiz on 1st base having been walked by reliever Carlos Marmol, centerfielder Shane Victorino was hit by a pitch. Marmol then walked 2nd baseman Chase Utley to load the sacks and walked 1st baseman Ryan Howard to force in the Phillies lead run. 3-2 Phillies.
After reliever Ryan Madson eased out of a 2 on situation in the eighth inning recording strikeouts on 2 of the 3 outs, closer Brad Lidge blew his 7th save opportunity of the season as the Cubs tied the game in the ninth. A walk, a sacrifice bunt and rightfielder Milton Bradley’s RBI single tied the game for Chicago and hung a blown save on Lidge.
Francisco, playing in place of regular rightfielder Jayson Werth who was benched due to a slump, led off the twefth inning with the winning homer off of Cubs closer and losing pitcher Kevin Gregg. It was only the Phillies 3rd hit of the game. Reliever Chad Durbin, just off of the DL, nailed down the game saving it for lefthanded reliever Scott Eyre who was perfect in 1 1/3 innings in getting credit for the win, getting the final out in the tenth on a fielders’ choice grounder and setting the Cubs down in order in the eleventh.
The AP recap of the game for Yahoo sports comments on Werth’s hitting slump:
Werth, hitless in his last 14 at-bats and mired in a 3-for-26 slump, was out of the starting lineup for a second straight game. He struck out as a pinch-hitter in the 12th.
The Cubs collected their 3 runs on 10 hits while leaving 12 runners stranded. Both Happ and Harden pitched well although Harden had the superior outing. He threw 87 pitches in seven innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits, including Rollins’ 2 run homer, while walking 2 and striking out six. Happ, who threw 100 pitches in six innings, was very lucky in that he only gave up the 2 runs while giving up 7 hits, walking 4 and striking out 3.
For the scores of all of Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, click here and here.
In Wednesday’s game 2, Pedro Martinez is slated to make his first start as a Phil and his first 2009 start. He is opposed by 24 year old Jeff Samardzija, heretofore a reliever starting his first MLB game for the Cubs.
For all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
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