Jonathan Pettibone has been a pleasant surprise to Phillies fans since making his debut back on April 22nd. He improved to 3-0 on the season and was the first Phillies pitcher since Gavin Floyd to start his career at 3-0. The 22 year old right hander pitched 6 2/3 innings which was his longest outing to date. He gave 2 runs in the second on a Michael Brantley single that scored Nick Swisher and Carlos Santana. That was all the Indians would get on this night in South Philadelphia as the Phillies won 6-2.
The Phillies wasted no time as Kevin Frandsen (starting in place of Chase Utley) smoked a solo shot into the left field stand off Indians starter Scott Kazmir. The Phillies would strike again in the bottom of the third inning with runners on first and second when John Mayberry Jr. ripped a ball in the left centerfield gap scoring Domonic Brown and Carlos Ruiz to take the early 3-2. From that point on, it was all the Phillies would need but not all they would get.
The Phillies have been plagued all year by getting early runs then not getting those insurance runs late in games to put teams away. The Phillies did not have that trouble this night. Domonic Brown blasted his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth to end Scott Kazmir’s night. The Indians threatened in the eighth with a leadoff triple off the bat from Asdrubal Cabrera but the inning lead to no runs for the Indians as Antonio Bastardo and Justin DeFratus combined to strand runners on first and third to thwart the threat. In the bottom of the inning the Phillies extended their lead on a Mayberry single and a pinch hit single by Freddy Galvis to make the score 6-2. Jonathan Papelbon came on in the ninth and after a leadoff single induced a double play and a ground out to seal the Phillies 19th victory of the season and their third in a row.
News and notes: Carlos Ruiz is quietly on a seven game hitting streak and for once Charlie Manuel’s in game managing paid off as he played the matchups perfectly tonight. Domonic Brown has seemed to find his power stroke as he now has hit 4 home runs in his last 50 at bats after hitting only 3 in his first 86 at bats. He is now tied with Chase Utley for the team lead in home runs. The Phillies look for 4 in a row this afternoon behind Cole Hamels who has given up 2 runs or less in each of his last 4 starts but the Phillies offense managed to only score 6 runs in those games and getting shut out twice. He is opposed by Corey Kluber who is coming off an outing in which he gave up 8 earned runs over 4 2/3 innings against the Tigers.
As always, keep Phightin!
Follow me on Twitter @AShafe24
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
