When the Phillies made offseason moves to acquire Aaron Harang and Jeff Francoeur, not many were expecting the roster moves to turn the Phillies into a division contender. On Wednesday night though, each proved valuable as the Phillies evened the season-opening series against the Boston Red Sox with a 4-2 victory.
Francoeur broke out the laser show with a three-run home run over the fence in left center field in the bottom of the sixth inning, giving the Phillies their first runs of the series and season, and their first lead of the early season. It proved to be the game winner as the Red Sox chipped away in the later innings but were held to just two runs off the bullpen.
Harang shut the Red Sox down for most of the night, allowing just two hits and walking one in his 6.1 innings of work in his Phillies debut. Harang got into some slight trouble in the seventh inning, when manager Ryne Sandberg pulled the veteran starter just after the Phillies had claimed a 3-0 lead. It was the right move, as Harang was over 100 pitches after a battle against Hanley Ramirewz, who hit a grand slam in the season opener and nearly hit another in the second game off reliever Ken Giles.
Catcher Carlos Ruiz added a couple of hits and walked once for a good night in the batter’s box. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each went hitless on the night, going a combined 0-for-7 with three strikeouts. Utley did have a sacrifice fly in the seventh to score Ben Revere, who took advantage of a throwing error by Pablo Sandoval to turn what should have been a ground out at first base into a scoring opportunity at third base to lead off the inning. Jonathan Papelbon picked up his first save of the season with a four-out save after coming in to replace a struggling Giles.
The Phillies and Red Sox close their season-opening series tonight at Citizens Bank Park. David Buchanan will make his season debut for the Phillies and will be opposed by Justin Masterson. Both teams will wear special commemorative caps honoring the 1915 World Series meeting between the two franchises.
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