Hamels Masterful as Phillies Shut Out Padres for Sweep
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Phillies starter Cole Hamels outpitched San Diego Padres starter Clayton Richard on Sunday in a battle of lefthanders. The Phils got a lot of mileage from their 5 hits as shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ 3rd inning RBI single and 1st baseman Mike Sweeney’s seventh inning 2 run homer provided offensive support and Hamels held the Padres scoreless for eight innings. Catcher Carlos Ruiz collected 2 hits and scored 2 unearned runs as the Padres committed 4 errors in the game. Rightfielder Jayson Werth’s ninth inning solo homer was topping on the cake as Hamels was masterful as the Phillies shut out the Padres by a 5-0 score to sweep their 3 game series.
Despite the win and having squandered 6 of 7 previous opportunities to catch up, the Phils remained 2 games behing NL East division-leading Atlanta who rallied back from 5 runs down to edge the Florida Marlins. The Phils continued to hold a 1 1/2 game lead on the San Francisco Giants for the NL wildcard lead as the Giants narrowly beat Arizona. The St. Louis Cardinals are now 3 games behind the Phils in the wild card race after losing their game with Washington. The Florida Marlins held on to 3rd place 9 1/2 games behind the leaders while the Mets hold 4th place 10 games off the pace.
The AP recap for Yahoo sports provides game highlights:
Mike Sweeney, starting in place of slumping Ryan Howard against left-hander Clayton Richard, hit a two-run homer, his first for the Phillies since being acquired from Seattle on Aug. 4. Jayson Werth added a solo shot.
Hamels (8-10) prevailed over Richard (12-6) in a duel of lefties to win for the first time since July 11 against Cincinnati. He had gone 0-3 despite a 2.83 ERA in his previous eight starts.
Hamels retired his final 16 batters after allowing Adrian Gonzalez’s single with two outs in the third. He struck out six and walked none. Ryan Madson finished the combined five-hitter as several thousand Phillies fans stood and cheered.
Gonzalez had three hits for San Diego.
Two of Philadelphia’s runs were unearned. Carlos Ruiz singled with one out in the third and advanced on Richard’s errant pickoff throw. He took third on Hamels’ groundout and scored on Jimmy Rollins’ single.
In the eighth, Ruiz hit a leadoff single and was safe at second on Richard’s throwing error after he fielded Hamels’ bunt. Right fielder Ryan Ludwick made a nice diving catch of Rollins’ fly. But when Ludwick attempted to double Hamels off first, his throw was wide and bounced into the Padres’ dugout for another error, allowing Ruiz to score.
In between, Sweeney lined a pitch over the left-field wall with two outs in the seventh. It was seventh overall.
Werth hit a solo homer off Luis Perdomo with one out in the ninth, his 18th.
Richard allowed four runs, two earned, on four hits in 7 2-3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.
To view the scores of all of Sunday’s games, click here.
Ace Roy Halladay goes for the Phillies in the opener of the 3 game series with the L.A. Dodgers on Monday. He is opposed by Hiroki Kuroda.
To view the schedule of all of Monday’s games, click here.
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