Cameron Rupp led off the top of the 12th inning with a solo homer on a 3-2 pitch from San Diego Padres reliever Kevin Quackenbush (1-2), providing the winning margin in the Phillies 4-3 victory in late night Friday action.
Of course, it was only late night on Friday if you were with the team, or somewhere else out in the western time zone. Here in Philly, for those night owls still watching, it was almost 2:30am on Saturday morning when Ken Giles closed the hosts out in the bottom of the 12th with his 4th Save.
“We’re winning, having fun and everything is clicking. That’s the feeling right now.” ~ Rupp
Hours earlier, the Padres had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead off Phillies rookie starter Aaron Nola. A 2-out, full count RBI single from Derek Norris scored Justin Upton to make it 1-0. An inning later, Upton delivered a 2-out, 2-run triple on an 0-2 pitch from Nola to push the Friars lead out to 3-0.
The Upton triple should have been the third out of the inning. Domonic Brown loped under the fly ball in right center, stuck out his glove, and simply missed what appeared to be a very catchable ball.
The Phillies pulled one back in the top of the 4th, getting on the board when Brown partially atoned for his error, ripping a solo homer to make it 3-1. It was Brown’s 2nd straight game with a homer, his 4th round-tripper in the last 8 games. Since July 21st, Brown is hitting for a .340/.352/.623 slash line, with 14 RBI to go along with the home runs.
In the 6th, it was another rejuvenated slugger getting in on the action when Ryan Howard powered his 19th homer of the season to make it 3-2. The 1st baseman is now hitting to a .354/.426/.625 slash line with 3 HR, 15 RBI, and 11 Runs scored going back to July 25th in what is clearly his best season since the final 2011 playoff campaign.
The Phils drew even in the top of the 7th with yet another solo homer, this one by Cody Asche, whose 6th of the year came on a one-out full count pitch from Padres starter James Shields. Shields went 6.2 innings on the night, striking out 8 and walking just one. But the three solo blasts mixed in among the 6 hits he allowed would keep him from a victory.
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Nola pretty much matched Shields’ strong outing, going 6 innings himself, also allowing just 6 hits. He struck out 6 and walked two on the night. He threw 99 pitches, 56 of them for strikes, a uncharactericstically low number for the control artist.
Phils’ manager Pete Mackanin then turned to his bullpen, parading out 4 relievers before Giles finally came on in that 12th. One of those, Hector Neris (2-0), allowed a hit while striking out 2 in the 11th inning, and would ultimately earn the Win on his ledger.
In the home 7th, Brown again atoned for his earlier defensive gaffe with the defensive play of the game. Yangervis Solarte led off with a double against Phils’ reliever Luis Garcia, and then with one out, Upton singled to right field. Solarte was waved home, and Brown came up firing a strike to the plate, where Rupp applied the rough tag for the huge out.
The Padres interim manager Pat Murphy challenged the play at the plate, saying that Rupp had violated the new ‘Home Plate Collision’ rule by blocking Solarte’s path to the dish. However, the call on the field was upheld, and the game remained knotted at 3-3.
“I think you’ve got to (send the runner),” Murphy said, per Jeff Sanders with the San Diego Union-Tribune. “… It’s all based off of what kind of jump he gets off the bat, and that line drive was struck well and came right up to the guy and he had to make a perfect throw.”
In the bottom of the 12th, the Padres and Giles traded outs and hits. After getting the leadoff man, the Phils’ flame-throwing closer yielded a single to Matt Kemp. But he then came back to strike out Upton swinging for the 2nd out. After Yonder Alonso singled to move the tying run into scoring positing, Giles wrapped the game by striking out Jedd Gyorko swinging.
The game marked the return of Chase Utley from a nearly two month stint on the Disabled List. He was installed in this road trip opener in the leadoff spot of the order, something he had not done since the 2004 season, and went 1-5 on the night.
The last time that Utley led off a game, Larry Bowa was the skipper, and Billy Wagner came on to close out a win for Cory Lidle. Over the ensuing 12 seasons, Utley has become a franchise icon. But now he is simply saying goodbye to Phillies fans. He will either be traded during August, or finish out what is surely going to be his final season in red pinstripes.
The return of Utley makes for some interesting decisions for Mackanin, as his replacement, Cesar Hernandez, has played well. As long as the team, now 14-5 since the All-Star break, keeps winning, he should be able to keep everyone happy. “We’re winning,” Rupp said, per Jim Salisbury with Comcast SportsNet. “That changes everything. We’re winning, having fun and everything is clicking. That’s the feeling right now.”
Phillies fans shouldn’t have to worry about any late night issues in the final two games of this series in southern California. Saturday’s game time is 8:40pm EDT, and Sunday’s afternoon finale begins with first pitch at 4:10pm local Philly time.
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