Phillies On a Rocky Mountain High

The Phillies began a 3-city, 10-game road trip, their second such lengthy road excursion in a month, with a 4-3 victory over the host Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The victory stretched the club’s winning streak out to 6 in a row, the longest since the 2012 season.

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Cole Hamels (4-3) was sharp once again, throwing 74 strikes among his 105 pitches over more than 7 innings. He allowed just 6 hits and one earned run, striking out 7 while walking just a single batter. Luis Garcia and Jonathan Papelbon each yielded a run in the 8th and 9th respectively, but Papelbon nailed down his 10th Save to close it out.

As they have been doing frequently during the streak, the Phils jumped on top early. Ben Revere singled, went to 2nd when Freddy Galvis was safe on an error, moved to 3rd on a Grady Sizemore line out, and then scored on an rbi single off the bat of Ryan Howard.

The 1-0 lead didn’t last for long, as D.J. LeMahieu singled home Wilin Rosario with two outs in the bottom of the 2nd, the only real chink that the Rox found in Hamels’ armor on this cool night at Coors.

The score remained tied into the top of the 6th, and there the Phils pounced on Rockies’ starter Jordan Lyles (2-4) for three runs that would prove the difference in this contest. It all started with two outs. Maikel Franco singled and Chase Utley walked to set things up.

With two outs and now two on-base, Odubel Herrera created some excitement, as has often been the case in this breakout rookie season for the centerfielder. He slashed a double to right, scoring both Franco and Utley, and took 3rd himself on the throw back to the plate. When Carlos Ruiz followed with an rbi single, it was a 4-1 Phillies lead.

The two reliever gave up those two late Rockies runs to make it interesting. But along with yielding the run that got Colorado within one, Papelbon also struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th to close things out.

So the Phillies streak along. Tonight at 8:40pm EDT, they send Aaron Harang to the mound, hoping he can continue his own excellent season and extend that winning stretch. He’ll take on Chad Bettis for the Rockies.