Phillies Streaking After Another Tight Win
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.
For the Phillies and Indians, this is getting to be a regular thing. The Fightin’ Phils defeated the Tribe by a 4-3 score on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park. It was the 7th one-run win for the Phillies (14-10), and the 6th one-run loss for Cleveland, including four of their last five games overall.
The Phils bolted out to an early lead in this one, as Freddy Galvis somehow perfectly placed his bat on the ball and flipped it out of the ballpark in the bottom of the 1st inning for a two-run homer.
The Galvis blast, such as it was, came immediately after Odubel Herrera led off the Phillies half of the 1st inning with a line base hit to center field. ‘El Torito’ was 2-4 with the run scored as he continues to produce as the spark plug atop the Phillies lineup.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Phils’ starting pitcher Jerad Eickhoff helped himself with a one-out RBI single that scored Darin Ruf, who had led off the inning with a double.
Eickhoff would provide the Phillies with yet another Quality Start, allowing three earned runs on six hits over six innings in which he walked no one while striking out four Tribe batters.
The Indians would eventually get the score even off Eickhoff, beginning with a solo run in the top of the 3rd inning. Lonnie Chisenhall doubled to lead it off, was bunted to 3rd by Indians’ starting pitcher Trevor Bauer, and scored on a sac fly off the bat of 2nd baseman Jason Kipnis.
Bauer allowed the three early Phillies runs, and lasted just four innings over which he allowed five hits and walked two in what was his first start of the season after pitching out of the Indians bullpen over the season’s first month.
The Tribe drew even with the Phils in the top of the 5th by rallying for a pair of runs. Rookie outfielder Tyler Naquin led off with a triple and came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Roberto Perez. Chisenhall then reached on a ball deflected by Eickhoff that otherwise may have been a simple ground out to 2nd base. He would score the tying run one out later on another clutch hit from the tough Kipnis.
With the starters out, the game was turned over to the bullpen. That is an eventuality that has been clearly in the Phillies favor in recent weeks, and would prove so again on this night.
Andrew Bailey (1-0), who would eventually be credited with his first career victory for his hometown team, again delivered a perfect inning for the Phils. Elvis Araujo came on in the 8th inning, and for a 2nd straight night struggled. But young Colton Murray, called up earlier in the day from AAA Lehigh Valley due to an injury to Dalier Hinojosa, retired the one batter he faced on a deep fly to end an Indians attempted rally.
Meanwhile, the Phillies broke through with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 7th against Indians reliever Tommy Hunter. David Lough started things with a looping single to center, and he was immediately sacrificed to 2nd base on a nice bunt by Peter Bourjos. Then with two outs, Galvis delivered again with an RBI single to right, scoring Lough with what would prove to be the game-winner.
“Sometimes you’re going to be hot with men in scoring position. Sometimes you’re cold. You just have to remember not to lose your confidence,” said Galvis per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “That’s something I don’t do. I know it’s going to come and go. I’m really happy it happened today.”
Jeanmar Gomez came on to close things out in the top of the 9th inning, and he nearly blew it. Jose Ramirez and Chisenhall each singled with one out, and Ramirez moved to 3rd when Rajai Davis grounded into a force out.
With two outs and runners on the corners for the Indians, up to the plate strode Kipnis, perhaps their most consistently dangerous hitter. The two-time AL All-Star worked the count to 2-2 against Gomez, and then drove a ball deep to right that appeared might be a home run, and at least a double or triple. But running at full speed, Bourjos reached up and snared the drive for the final out.
With that harrowing moment settled in their favor, the Phillies celebrated their victory. It pushed the club to four games over the .500 mark for the first time since the ‘Four Aces’-led Phillies set a franchise record for wins with 102 back at the end of the 2011 season. They will now try for a 2nd straight series sweep on Sunday afternoon.