Blowout Win Leads to 9 Straight
In the first inning, Raul Ibanez clubbed his 25th home run of the season, a three run shot. Rodrigo Lopez and the Phillies didn’t look back.
Carlos Ruiz’s home run in the second inning made it 5-0. He drove in another run in the fourth inning with a double. He finished 2-for-4 with a homer, double, two runs scored, and three runs batted in.
Jimmy Rollins’ sacrifice fly, Alfonso Soriano’s error on a fly ball, and Chase Utley’s RBI single made it 8-0 in the fourth. Rollins (1-for-3) proved to be a big factor in the win. He led off the game with a single, and when Rollins gets on base and scores runs, the Phillies win.
Ted Lilly’s four game winning streak was snapped after getting rocked in his shortest outing of the season. His ERA jumped from 3.18 to 3.59 after the Phillies pounded nine runs in four innings.
Lopez didn’t have his most commanding stuff, but in six innings he gave up only one run on five hits and three walks. The only run came on Ryan Theriot’s RBI single in the fifth, taking away the shutout. Lopez struck out five.
Everybody in got into the action except Ryan Howard until his “oppo boppo” in the eighth. His 24th home run of the season put the finishing touches on the Phillies 10-1 blowout.
Chad Durbin was able to eat innings out of the bullpen. He allowed one hit in his three shutout innings, earning the save.
The Phillies are finally .500 (23-23) at home. They will attempt 10 in a row tomorrow. The last time they won that many games in a row was in 1991 when they won 13 straight.
