Philadelphia Phillies
New York YankeesFor the 3rd straight game, the Phillies broke out their bats to score 9+ runs. And for the 2nd straight night in The Big Apple, the offensive onslaught was led by rookie 3rd baseman Maikel Franco in a 10-6 victory over the host New York Yankees.
The Yanks broke out to an early lead in this one as the home side scored solo runs in each of the first three frames off Phils’ starter Sean O’Sullivan. In the first, Alex Rodriguez‘ sacrifice fly scored Brett Gardner, who had led off the game with a double and moved to third on a grounder. In the 2nd inning, Garrett Jones led off the frame with his 4th homerun. In the 3rd, another leadoff homer, this one Gardner’s 11th of the season.
The Phils had gotten one of their own off Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia in the top of the third when Ben Revere led off with a single, and came all the way around to score on a Cesar Hernandez double.
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The Phillies then put up a 5-spot in the top of the 4th to take the lead. A one-out double by Andres Blanco was followed immediately by Cameron Rupp‘s 1st homerun of the season, tying the game at 3-3. Then with two outs and two on, Franco drove his 10th homerun, his 3rd in two games. The 3-run blast pushed the Phillies out in front by 6-3.
With two outs in the top of the 5th, Blanco reached on an error, and he would be the final batter faced by Sabathia. The Yankees starter went 4.2 innings, allowing 6 earned runs on 8 hits and 2 walks.
In the bottom of that 5th inning, the Yankees would battle back with 3 runs to tie the game. The first 2 of those runs came on leadoff, back-to-back homers by Chase Headley and Arod, cutting the margin to 6-5. After Carlos Beltran doubled with one out, that was it for O’Sullivan. He left having allowed 6 earned runs on 10 hits across 4.1 innings.
With Elvis Araujo on to pitch for the Phillies, Chris Young ripped a 2-out RBI double to left field, tying the game at 6-6. After that point, the two bullpens settled things down, including Ken Giles (3-1) for the Phils, keeping the score the same into the 9th. For the Yanks, skipper Joe Girardi elected to use his closer, Dellin Betances, in the 8th, and then left him in for the 9th.
Ben Revere led off the 9th with a double, and Cesar Hernandez was then hit by a Betances pitch. With first and second and nobody out, Franco stepped to the plate. Having been drilled by a pitcher earlier in the game in what was obviously a message, the Phils rookie answered with a message of his own, ripping a 2-run double down the left field line to put the Phillies up 8-6.
That hit gave Franco his 2nd consecutive 5-RBI game, but the club wasn’t done scoring yet. With Betances (4-1) now out, Blanco greeted new reliever Nick Rumbelow, making his MLB debut, with a 2-run double down the right field line, pushing the Phillies lead out to 10-6.
Franco’s big hit produced his 2nd straight 5-RBI game, believed to be the first time this has ever been done by a Phils hitter. It is also the first time an opposing hitter has done it to the Yanks.
In the bottom of the 9th, Phils manager Ryne Sandberg called on Justin De Fratus to try to protect the 4-run lead. De Fratus made quick work of the Yanks, setting them down 1-2-3 to clinch the game and the series for the Fightin’ Phils.
The two teams will meet on Wednesday afternoon in the series finale. It will be Phillies ace lefty Cole Hamels taking the mound, assuming that he hasn’t been traded, and Ivan Nova on the hill for New York in his first game back after recovery from Tommy John surgery.