Phillies Crush Rox to End Improved First Half
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the host Colorado Rockies in a four game series finale at Coors Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Phillies ended an encouraging first half on a winning note, blasting the host Colorado Rockies by a 10-3 score in the finale of a four game series at Coors Field.
Most of the Phils will now enjoy a well-deserved four-day break for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and surrounding festivities, in which only center fielder Odubel Herrera will be participating.
This one was a tight 4-2 affair in favor of the Fightin’ Phils before the club put the game away with six runs over the 7th and 8th frames.
Prior to that point, rookie starting pitcher Zach Eflin was a high point. Eflin (2-2) continued to show improvement, as he has done every start since being called up a couple of weeks ago.
In this one, Eflin allowed two earned runs and seven hits over six frames, striking out three and walking two. Most importantly, he did exactly what a starting pitcher needs to do in the rarefied air of Coors – manage the game, and keep your team in it.
On the other side of the field, Rockies’ starter Tyler Chatwood was not quite as successful. Chatwood (8-5) allowed four earned on eight hits while walking three batters over his five innings.
The hosts jumped on top in the bottom of the 2nd when Chatwood helped himself with a two-out RBI single to make it a 1-0 game. But the Phils immediately roared back, scoring three times in the top of the 3rd to take a lead that they would not relinquish.
With two outs in that 3rd, Freddy Galvis and Maikel Franco each singled and Tommy Joseph drew a walk to load the bases. Cody Asche then delivered a clutch two-run single to give the Phillies the lead. Cameron Rupp then followed with his own RBI single, and it was 3-1 in favor of the guests.
With two on and one out in the top of the 5th, Rupp delivered with another RBI single to make it a 4-1 game. The Rockies pulled back to within 4-2 in the bottom of the 6th when Trevor Story doubled with one out, and came around to score on a two-out RBI double by Nick Hundley.
The Phillies and Rupp then did it yet again with two outs, this time in the top of the 7th. After lefty reliever Jake McGee was brought on and walked Asche, the Phillies’ catcher blasted the club’s longest home run of the season out deep to center field, pushing the lead out to 6-2.
That ‘longest Phillies home run of the season’ status would last just one inning. In the top of the 8th against reliever Jason Motte, Andres Blanco doubled, Herrera drew a walk, and Galvis singled home Blanco to make it a 7-2 ball game.
Then Franco stepped to the dish. The Phillies’ 3rd sacker, who had struggled for a long time before breaking out in this series, put an exclamation point on a big afternoon, ripping a three-run homer to left that beat Rupp’s drive out as the new longest Phils homer of the year, making it a 10-2 game.
In the bottom of the 8th, en route to a spot in that MLB All-Star Game and perhaps wanting to leave the home fans with something to cheer, Gonzalez decided to one up the two Phillies blasts, destroying a 2-2 pitch from Hector Neris that went nearly 500 feet and put the capper on the 10-3 final score.
“Our hitting has come around,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said per MLB.com contributors. “The first two months we were at the bottom of the pack, literally. Everybody has been contributing.”
That was absolutely the case in this one. Rupp had four hits to raise his average to .287 and his OPS to a team-high .836 mark. Franco delivered a three-hit day, scoring three times. The club produced five two-out RBI, and went a combined 5-11 with runners in scoring position.
The Phillies have now won 12 of 17 games since ending their horrendous two weeks at the end of June, and have clearly stabilized their season.
So the Fightins hit the All-Star break at 42-48, six games back of the division-rival Marlins and Mets in the NL Wildcard playoff race. When the regular season resumes on Friday, those will be the opponents over the first six days back.