Hamels wins 9th in 9-1 rout of Fish

The bats produced again last night, backing another strong outing from Cole Hamels who picked up his ninth victory of the season in a 9-1 win.

After allowing a run in the first, Hamels was nearly un-hittable over seven strong innings. He allowed the one run on three hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Through from the last out in the first through the seventh inning, Hamels retired sixteen consecutive batters before Logan Morrison reached on a Ryan Howard error to lead-off the seventh.

Ryan Howard hit a sight for sore eyes in the first inning: an opposite field home run. It was his first hit to left since May 10. The two-run shot gave the Phils a 2-1 lead and they never looked back.

The Phillies also got home runs from Chase Utley (two-run in the 3rd), Domonic Brown (solo in the fourth, solo in the seventh) and Jimmy Rollins (two-run in the sixth).

Placido Polanco also contributed an RBI, the only run not produced via the long ball.

Marlins' starter Chris Volstad dropped to 2-7, lasting 5.2 innings and allowing eight runs on ten hits, two walks, four home runs and four strikeouts.

With the loss and a Mets victory over the Braves, the Marlins fell into fourth place in the NL East, 8.5 behind the Phils, who moved 3.5 ahead of the second place Braves.

For the first game of today's doubleheader, the Marlins will send Elih Villanueva to the mound, making his Major League debut. He's 4-5 in Triple-A this season, with a 5.23 ERA. He's coming off a six inning shut-out performance on June 9, and has allowed a total of four earned runs over his last three starts.