Moyer’s Long Relief Leads Phillies Over Arizona
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Phillies starter Pedro Martinez threw three innings on Tuesday allowing 1 run on 3 hits, the 1 run on Stephen Drew’s leadoff homer, as Arizona held a 1-0 lead when the rains came after the D-backs at-bats in the third. After a 1 hour rain delay, the Phils tacked 3 runs on the board in the third off of D-backs starter Jon Garland as 46 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer was sent to relieve Martinez. Moyer threw six scoreless innings and rightfielder Jayson Werth and catcher Carlos Ruiz added solo homers in the fifth and sixth innings as Moyer’s long six inning relief effort led the Phils over Arizona by a 5-1 score in their series opener.
With the win, the Phils maintained their 4 1/2 game lead over 2nd place Florida, who also won, in the NL East division race. The Mets pounded the Atlanta Braves who dropped to 6 1/2 games back in 3rd place. The Mets remained 12 1/2 games back in 4th place.
After Drew’s leadoff homer to rightfield and leftfielder Ryan Roberts’ bloop single to left centerfield, Martinez settled down getting a pitcher-to-short-to-first doubleplay on centerfielder Gerardo Parra and retiring the next 7 hitters he faced through the third inning.
Meanwhile, the Phillies had Garland on the ropes early, in the first inning as shortstop Jimmy Rollins and centerfielder Shane Victorino each singled and Garland walked 2nd baseman Chase Utley to load the sacks. But the Phils continue to have problems driving in runners. 1st baseman Ryan Howard struck out, his 1st of 2 strikeouts in the game as his strikeout totals continue to mount — 142 Ks in 115 games. Then Werth fouled out and Raul Ibanez grounded out to 2nd to end the inning and the threat. Garland had an easy time in the second inning only giving up a 1 out Carlos Ruiz single.
Then the torrents of rain came as Martinez retired the final hitter in the D-backs’ third inning. The game was held up for 1 hour and 6 minutes after which the Phillies quickly hammered Garland for 3 third inning runs. AP sportswriter Rob Maaddi describes the Phils’ third inning for Yahoo sports;
Werth’s RBI double tied it at 1, and Pedro Feliz and Ruiz had consecutive RBI singles. Feliz was thrown out by right fielder Alex Romero trying to score on Ruiz’s hit.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel opted to lift Martinez to begin the fourth and replace him with Moyer — a move that paid off in spades. Martinez, while in the game, looked solid throwing 38 pitches in three innings giving up only the 1 runon 2 his. He walked noone and struck out 3.
Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr recaps the rest of the game:
Jamie Moyer was clearly upset about the team’s decision to move him from the starting rotation to the bullpen after the addition of tonight’s starter, Pedro Martinez. Moyer isn’t a left handed specialist. He is there to serve as a long man. Tonight, Moyer pitched in relief, but had the line of a starter.
As shown during the series in Arizona, the Diamondbacks’ defense is horrible. Tonight, the Phils were able to capitalize on Ryan Roberts’ mistakes. He misplayed Jason Werth’s double which scored Chase Utley, tying the game at one. Roberts made a throwing error on Pedro Feliz’s RBI single. It gave the Phillies a lead, and moved the runners up. Carlos Ruiz’s single gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead in the third.
Because of the thunderstorm, Pedro was forced to stop after three innings, however Jamie Moyer filled in nicely. He made his first appearance out of the bullpen since 2004 and officially became the oldest non-knuckleballer to pitch in relief since 1945. Moyer already had success against the Diamondbacks earlier this year, shutting them out in 6.2 innings.
It took only 69 pitches for Moyer to pitch six shutout innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out five. At the plate, Moyer had two hits– the same amount of hits he allowed. It was Moyer’s first multi-hit game since May, 2008.
There was talk about Moyer and Martinez sharing the fifth rotation spot, and it worked like that tonight. ”You never know what you get when you put two old goats out there. It’s a scary combination,” said Martinez. Since Martinez did not pitch at least five innings, Moyer was credited with the win. His 257th career win was his sixth win in relief, and first since 1996.
Werth homered in the 5th inning, and Carlos Ruiz homered in the sixth. Werth’s 25th homer of the year set a new career high for the 30 year old.
Moyer came out of the bullpen with a vengeance, and dominated in the… win. Against the Diamondbacks this year, Moyer has shut them out in 12.2 innings. Although he relieved, he pitched like a starter tonight.
Losing pitcher Garland lasted 5 1/3 innings throwing 89 pitches and giving up the 2 homers, a total of 11 hits and 5 runs. He walked 2 and struk out 3. 3 relievers held the Phils to 1 hit, although 2 other Phils reached on walks over the final 2 2/3 innings.
In related news, Brett Myers finally makes his his first rehab start for Single-A Clearwater on Thursday, barring any other unforeseen freakish events such as last week’s eye injury fiasco.
For the scores of all of Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, click here and here.
The Phillies hope to go 2-up as newly acquired ace lefthander Cliff Lee is opposed by Dan Haren.
For all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
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