Phillies Offense Provides Independence Day Fireworks
By Matt Veasey
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Braves | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Phillies | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 8 |
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the division rival Atlanta Braves in an Independence Day afternoon game at Citizens Bank Park.
With a Fourth of July day game, the fans at Citizens Bank Park probably figured that they weren’t going to be seeing much in the way of fireworks this afternoon.
However, the Phillies decided that they didn’t want to let down the Independence Day crowd. So in the bottom of the 2nd, the offense exploded for seven runs, allowing the Phils to coast to an easy 8-2 win in the series opener.
The big inning came against Braves’ 27-year old rookie righty Joel De La Cruz, who was making just his second career start.
Trailing by 1-0 thanks to a solo home run from Erick Aybar in the top of the 1st inning off Phillies starting pitcher Jerad Eickhoff, the a half-dozen extra-base hits in a massive fireworks display of their own in that 2nd inning.
It started with back-to-back doubles from Cameron Rupp and Tommy Joseph, the latter clanging off the glove of Atlanta center fielder Emilio Bonifacio. Rupp had to hold up in anticipation of Bonifacio catching the ball. He would scamper home on a ground out to make it 1-1.
“Confidence breeds success,” Rupp said per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “I think the confidence was a little down, then you start running into some pitches and the line keeps moving. … Confidence, man, it’s through the roof.”
Cesar Hernandez then stayed hot by lining a triple into the right field corner, allowing Joseph to score with the go-ahead run. Eickhoff then reached on a fielder’s choice thanks to an error by Braves’ 3rd baseman Brandon Snyder that allowed Hernandez to score, making it 3-1.
That brought Odubel Herrera to the plate, and ‘El Torito’ showed once again why he is nearly a sure thing to be named to the NL All-Star team this week, driving his 10th home run out on a line to right center to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead.
Peter Bourjos then also stayed hot with a double to left field. Then with two outs, Maikel Franco, whose home run swing has suddenly clicked back in, drilled his 15th home run out to left center. The two-run shot finished the seven run rally, pushing the Phillies lead to 7-1.
Despite giving up the big inning, De La Cruz (0-2) managed to survive and actually provide Atlanta with six innings. He allowed just three hits outside of that big inning.
For his part, Eickhoff (6-9) settled down after allowing the first inning homer to Aybar. The Phils’ righty produced his longest career outing, scattering five hits over 7.2 innings, striking out eight and walking three on the day.
“I feel good,” Eickhoff said per MLB.com contributors. “I feel good mechanically and mentally. I’m just going to try and stay right where I want — not too high and not too low. I’m going to try and help this game any way I can.”
The two teams swapped runs late in the game. Joseph singled home Bourjos in the bottom of the 7th to make it 8-1, and the Braves two most consistent offensive performers produced a run for them in the top of the 8th, as Freddie Freeman doubled and scored on an RBI single by Nick Markakis.
The series will resume with a 7:05pm game on Tuesday night, and then concludes with a 1:05pm getaway day game on Wednesday afternoon.