Phillies Streak Back Into Wildcard Picture
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Rockies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Phillies | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | x | 6 |
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Colorado Rockies on a sweltering hot Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.
The Phillies opened up an early lead, then pulled away late to a 6-3 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies down at Citizens Bank Park on what was a sweltering hot night in South Philly.
For the Fightin’ Phils it was a third consecutive victory, one that pulled them to within just 6.5 games of the second NL Wildcard playoff position.
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The win came during the continued ‘Alumni Weekend’ celebrations. Prior to this one it was announced as part of the on-field celebration that both Randy Wolf and Placido Polanco were retiring as Phillies. The famed ‘Wolf Pack’ was on hand to help the former Phillies’ left-hander celebrate the occasion.
Out on the field, Jerad Eickhoff got the start for this current version of the Phillies, and he began strong. Eickhoff (8-12) had a shutout going with one out in the 6th, but then ran out of gas, yielding three runs and nearly giving back a 4-0 lead before being lifted.
Eickhoff went 5.2 innings in the end, allowing three earned runs on 10 hits, while striking out three and walking two. All three runs and four of the hits came in that 6th frame. He threw 58 of his 94 pitches for strikes on the night.
Luis Gracia came on to get out of that inning with the Phillies still clutching a one-run lead. He was then followed by Michael Mariot, Edubray Ramos, and finally Jeanmar Gomez in keeping the Rox off the board the rest of the way. Gomez notched his 30th Save of the year, becoming the 11th closer to reach that season mark in Phillies history.
The Phils had built their early lead thanks to a three-run homer off the bat of Maikel Franco, his team-high 21st of the season, in the bottom of the 1st inning.
His next time coming to the plate in the bottom of the 4th, Franco was plunked by Rockies starter Tyler Anderson, who had taken offense to the celebratory nature of the Phillies’ slugger’s home run trot back in that initial frame.
The plunking caused the benches to clear without much physical incident. But both Anderson and Colorado skipper Walt Weiss were ejected. Later in the inning, Freddy Galvis singled home Franco to make it 4-0.
“I know the team had to protect me,” Franco said per MLB.com correspondents. “They had to respond, too. … I didn’t expect the ball to be coming because I didn’t do anything wrong, just run my bases. This moment, you just have to get mad a little bit.”
Anderson (4-4) lasted just three official innings, allowing four earned on two hits and two walks, with 37 of his 57 pitches going for strikes.
The Rockies got into the game in that 6th inning thanks to a pair of homers off Eickhoff, the first a two-run shot by Daniel Descalso, and then two batters later a solo homer off the bat of Tony Wolters.
With the score 4-3 and the game in the hands of the bullpens, the Phillies pulled away in the home 7th against deposed Colorado closer Carlos Estevez.
Cesar Hernandez singled with one out, and then Peter Bourjos was hit by a pitch in the left forearm. Aaron Altherr then singled to center, scoring the speedy Hernandez to make it a 5-3 game.
Tommy Joseph followed that up with a sacrifice fly, scoring Bourjos with the run that made the ultimate 6-3 final. The Phillies bullpen took over from there.
“It’s really good to win a series against this lineup,” Phils manager Pete Mackanin said. “This whole lineup is a good lineup. All you have to do is look at their batting averages. We’re doing a heck of a job beating these guys the first two games.”
The Phillies will have a shot in the Sunday afternoon finale to sweep a series and win four straight games for the first time in more than a month. It will be a dangerously hot one, temperature-wise. Let’s hope the team remains hot as well.