The Phillies continued to hit Javier Vazquez well and moved three games ahead of the Marlins in the NL East with a 6-4 victory at Sun Life Stadium, their seventh straight in Florida's ballpark.
Joe Blanton picked up his first win of the season with an average outing which he allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out two.
After the Phillies spotted Blanton a first inning run on the strength of a Jimmy Rollins lead-off home run, his second dinger of the year, the Fish came out swinging in the first.
Gaby Sanchez continued swinging a hot bat, doubling in two in the first and erasing the Phillies' lead.
Trailing 3-1 in the third, the Phils rallied against Vazquez. Blanton singled to lead-off the inning, followed by singles from Rollins and Placido Polanco. With the bases loaded, Ryan Howard smoked a line drive basehit to right, scoring Blanton.
Ross Gload followed, coming up big against his former team. He singled through the hole into left, scoring Rollins. Polanco would also come around to score on a bizarre play.
Emilio Bonifacio airmailed the throw from left, and Vazquez didn't back the play up, forcing catcher John Buck to retrieve the ball. Polanco was about half way down the line, and couldn't decide which way he break. He finally settled on toward the plate and would have been a dead duck, but Vazquez dropped the throw from Buck, allowing Polanco to eventually cross the plate. Vazquez lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits and one walk with no strikeouts.
The Phillies would not relinquish the lead.
They added two more in the fifth, on a Polanco sac fly and a Gload RBI single.
Vance Worley pitched three solid innings in relief, but served up a solo shot to Sanchez as one of two hits allowed.
Ryan Madson closed the door for his fourth save of the year.
Tonight's pitching match-up will draw plenty of buzz from MLB as Roy Halladay opposes Josh Johnson. Halladay pitched a perfect game in Florida last season in a 1-0 victory against Johnson. JJ turned the tables on Halladay last year though, also handing him a 1-0 defeat; the only game Halladay has lost against the NL East in his time with the Phillies.
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Who would have thought we'd be watching a pitcher's duel tonight! It's 1-1 as I write this with plenty of strikeouts for both sides.
ReplyDeleteGo Phils!