Phillies Rock Colorado

The Phillies put runs on the board early and then cruised to their 7th win in the last 8 games, taking a 4-2 decision from the host Colorado Rockies on a cold Wednesday night at Coors Field in Denver.

22-year old rookie Severino Gonzalez, recalled from AAA Lehigh Valley and pressed into action once again due to an injury in the Phillies regular rotation, gained the win and rose to 2-1 on the season with a solid 5 inning outing. He yielded 5 hits while controlling the game by walking none.

The Fightin’ Phils gave him some early help that would allow to relax and settle into the game, scoring twice in both the top of the 1st and 3rd innings off Rockies rookie starter Eddie Butler (2-5).

In the top of the first, they got things going with two outs and nobody on base. After Chase Utley and Ryan Howard singled, Maikel Franco hit one right back to Butler. The pitcher misfired on the throw to first, the error allowing Utley to score and Howard to move up to 3rd. Howard then scored on a base hit by Jeff Francoeur, and Butler’s error had cost him two runs.

While the Phillies may have been fortunate in the first inning, their bats did all the damage in the 3rd. Howard crushed a one-out homer to dead centerfield, his 8th of the season, to make it a 3-0 game. Then with two outs, Francoeur doubled into the right-center gap. He would then score on an rbi single off the bat of Odubel Herrera to make it a 4-0 Phils lead.

Charlie Blackmon manufactured the Rockies first run in the bottom of the 4th, their only run off Gonzalez. He led off with a single, stole 2nd, and scored on a base hit by Carlos Gonzalez. The Phils escaped possible trouble on a nice defensive play to end the inning.

With two outs in the bottom of the 4th, Wilin Rosario singled to left. Ben Revere fired the ball back into the infield, and shortstop Freddy Galvis‘ relay to Utley caught Rosario going for 2nd. This TOOTBLAN (thrown out on the bases like a nincompoop) by the Rockies 1st baseman helped the Phils escape the inning with a 4-1 lead.

Jake Diekman came on in the 6th and recorded a pair of strikeouts to maintain the lead. But left in to begin the bottom of the 7th, Diekman allowed a leadoff double to Rosario. Luis Garcia was brought on to replace the lefty, and though he gave up nothing the runner still scored. Rosario moved to 3rd on a fly out, and scored on a ground out, and it was a 4-2 game.

That was how it would end. Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon came on to do their lockdown thing in the 8th and 9th respectively. Papelbon struck out two batters in recording his 11th Save on the season, his 6th in the last 12 games.

With the win,  the Phils continued their recent run of strong play, moving back within 6 games of the .500 mark. The two clubs will wrap this 4-game series with a matinée this afternoon starting at 3:10pm Philly time. Jerome Williams (3-3 with a 5.02 ERA) faces Jorge de la Rosa (1-2 with a 6.56 ERA) in the mound matchup.