Phillies Beat Reds Twice in Extras on Howard Homer, Rollins Single
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23 year old Cincinnati lefthander Travis Wood took a perfect game into the ninth inning on Saturday before Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz broke it up by opening the inning with a double to centerfield. Ruiz, however, was left stranded. In a pitching duel for the ages, Wood and ace Roy Halladay threw up zeros for nine innings with Halladay spreading 5 hits and a walk while striking out 9. Both starters came away with a no-decision for their trouble. Closer Brad Lidge had a dicey tenth inning, but came away unscathed while Ruiz again doubled in the eleventh with 1 out against lefthanded reliever Bill Bray. With 2 outs in the eleventh inning and runners on 1st and 2nd base, shortstop Jimmy Rollins singled in the only run of the game — the winning run off of Logan Ondrusek as the Phillies beat Cincinnati by a 1-0 score in the 3rd of their 4 game series.
On Friday, Cincinnati rookie starter Mike Leake carried a 4 hit 7-1 lead through 1 out in the Phillies ninth inning before the Phils broke through for 6 runs to tie the game, featuring a 3 run homer by 3rd baseman Greg Dobbs and a 2 run shot by pinch hitter Cody Ransom (his 1st homer as a Phil). Starter Joe Blanton was pounded for 6 runs on 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings as the Phils dropped behind. But after the ninth inning rally, the Phils lit up reliever Arthur Rhodes again, this time in the tenth, as leftfielder Raul Ibanez led off with a double and 1st baseman Ryan Howard followed with a 2 run walkoff homer as the Phils beat Cincinnati again in extra innings by a 9-7 score.
With the Phillies’ wins on Friday and Saturday, they kept pace with NL East division-leading Atlanta and remain 5 games behind the division leaders. The Phils picked up 2 games on the 2nd place Mets who lost to the Braves. The Phils are now 1/2 game and .005 out of 2nd place.
On Saturday, while Wood was retiring the first 24 Phillie hitters he faced and the final 3 faced after Ruiz’s ninth inning double on a total of 109 pitches while striking out 8, Halladay was almost as good — 117 pitches, 5 hits, 1 walk an 9 strikeouts. After Reds’ shortstop Orlando Cabrera singled through the shortstop hole in the first inning, Halladay retired the next 9 Reds beginning with 1st baseman Joey Votto’s grounding into a doubleplay to end the inning. Cabrera got his 2nd single, this time with 1 out in the fourth inning and to centerfield. Halladay then walked Votto and then got a ground out and pop out to end the inning. 3rd baseman and former Phil Miguel Cairo opened the fifth with a single through the hole at 2nd base for the 1st of his 2 hits. But then “the Doc” coaxed an around-the-horn double play followed by a fly out to end the inning.
Halladay then retired the next 6 Reds hitters before Cairo opened the eighth with his 2nd hit, a double. Halladay went on to retire the next 5 Reds before Votto’s 2 out double in the ninth. Then Halladay got leftfielder Jonny Gomes to fly out to rightfield to end the inning.
Ruiz opened the ninth inning with a double, the only hit given up by young Travis Wood. But a bunt pop-out, a fly ball and a foul out and Wood was out of the inning stranding Ruiz. Chooch was in his first game after returning from a stint on the DL. The AP game recap for Yahoo reports:
Dane Sardinha was designated for assignment before the game to make roster room for Ruiz.
Lidge put himself in precarious position in the tenth as rightfielder Jay Bruce opened with a double. Then Cairo sacrificed bunted to the pitcher moving Bruce to 3rd. Then Lidge walked centerfielder Drew Stubbs who promptly stole 2nd base. Lidge then struck out catcher Ryan Hanigan, bringing up pinch hitter Laynce Nix who was walked intentionally. But then Lidge got 2nd baseman Brandon Phillips to fly out to shallow centerfield to escape the tenth unscathed.
In the Phils tenth, rightfielder Jayson Werth laced a single to shallow centerfield but was left stranded.
Jose Contreras replaced Lidge for the eleventh inning and went clean getting a ground out and 2 strikeouts. That opened the way for Ruiz’s 2nd double of the game with 1 out in the eleventh off of Bray followed by an intentional walk and a fly out. Ondrusek replaced Bray and Rollins lined his 1st pitch to right centerfield for a walkoff single to win the game. Contreras got the win while Bray, who gave up Ruiz’s 11th inning double, was charged with the loss.
The AP recap on Friday’s game notes:
Staked to a 7-1 lead by the ninth, Reds starter Mike Leake appeared to be cruising toward his first career complete game.
Then it all unraveled.
Howard’s RBI single made it 7-2. After a single, Dobbs followed with a three-run homer off the right-field foul pole and the 82nd straight sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park went wild.
Dobbs went deep to chase Leake, and Ransom hit a tying homer off closer Francisco Cordero to make it 7-all.
Raul Ibanez opened the 10th with a double off Arthur Rhodes (3-3) and Howard went the opposite way for his 17th homer of the season.
Ryan Madson (2-0) tossed a scoreless inning for the win.
Leake was finished after the longest outing of his career. Cordero retired the first batter he faced, then walked pinch-hitter Ben Francisco(notes). Ransom followed with a drive to right-center that made it 7-all.
Ransom’s homer was his first of the season and the second of his career as a pinch hitter.
“We finally got to Leake in the ninth,” Ransom said. “From there, we got some momentum and kept it going.”
Jonny Gomes hit a three-run homer to help the Reds roll early.
Gomes drove in four runs and Miguel Cairo had three hits. They delivered on some late, pregame shuffling of the lineup once Scott Rolen was scratched with a sore back. Cairo took his spot at third base, Gomes was bumped from fifth to fourth in the lineup and it all helped the NL West-leading Reds in a big way.
Leake was stingy with his pitches, throwing only 45 through the first five innings. He also had three hits.
The Phillies committed two errors, had a baserunner picked off first and another thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double by the fifth.
The Reds scored three in the first inning and another in the second off starter Joe Blanton.
Blanton, who agreed to a $24 million, three-year deal in the offseason, heard a smattering of boos when he left after 5 1-3 innings.
Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins booted a grounder for an error in the first and All-Star Joey Votto singled on a perfect hit-and-run. Gomes hit his 11th homer for a 3-0 lead.
In the second, Gomes ripped a liner off Dobbs’ glove at third for a run-scoring single.
Leake, who never pitched in the minors, was sensational for 8 1-3 innings and didn’t tire in the muggy conditions while running the bases. His RBI single in the ninth made it 7-1. He became the first Reds pitcher to have three hits in a game since Bobby Livingston had four in 2007.
Maybe the scouting report was “swing early” because the Phillies didn’t make Leake work to throw pitches. He got a visit from pitching coach Bryan Price in the ninth after allowing a run, then was yanked after Dobbs went deep.
To view the scores of all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
The Phils could find themselves riding a 4 game winning crest and a sweep of the Reds. Sunday’s series final is a battle of lefthanders with Cole Hamels opposed by rookie Matt Maloney. After Sunday’s game, MLB goes into All Star break mode until Thursday when the Phillies open a 4 game series in Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs.
To view all of Sunday’s games, click here.
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