Young, Brown Propel Phils Past Nats

Consecutive two-out hits by Delmon Young and Domonic Brown plated a pair of runs in the eighth inning and keyed a 5-3 Phillies victory over the Nationals in D.C. on Saturday night.  In what is beginning to seem like an every start occurrence, Jonathan Pettibone admirably battled through six innings despite looking pretty hittable.  Jonathan Papelbon shut the door on the Nats in the ninth for his ninth save.  Chad Durbin threw 13 pitches between the seventh and eighth to get the win.

DELMON COMES UP BIG AGAIN

– It wasn’t pretty, but Young’s single over the first base bag was the difference on Saturday.  As the ball trickled into the right field corner, Ryne Sandberg took a chance by waving Michael Young home.  It paid off as a weak throw by Bryce Harper and a good slide by Young allowed the Phils to go ahead for good.  Brown laced the next pitch into the gap in right center to make it 5-3.  Delmon Young now has four RBI in the past four games (eight overall).

– Brown and Erik Kratz hit back-to-back solo home runs for the Phils in the bottom of the second.  After D. Young became the fourth consecutive hitter to strikeout, Brown jumped all over a first-pitch, hanging curveball, blasting it into the seats in right field.  Kratz hit the next pitch into the bleachers in left center.  Brown finished 2 for 4 with two RBI.

– They scored five runs, but the Phillies stuck out 12 times and had only six hits, making Dan Haren look like an All-Star again in the process.  Haren struck out 10 Phillies in six innings.  His previous high this season was five.  Ryan Howard struck out four times.

– Remember the Phillies remarkable streak of 16 straight solo home runs?  Well since Jimmy Rollins ended it last Friday against the Reds, the Phils have hit five more dingers; all solo shots. All six of Brown’s May home runs have come with no one on.

PETTIBONE NAVIGATES THROUGH SIX

– While he got off to a good start, Pettibone was fortunate to get through six innings only allowing three runs.  He let up nine hits and struck out six in those frames, but had to throw 102 pitches to do so and was the beneficiary of some hard-hit outs.  To his credit, Pettibone collected himself after a shaky couple of innings and put the Nats down 1-2-3 in the sixth on five pitches.

– The Nats left the bases loaded in the third inning.  In the fourth, what would have been a go-ahead two-run home run from Denard Span sailed just right of the right field foul pole.  While Ben Revere

ran down a few hard-hit balls in the fifth, Adam LaRoche was able to tie the game at three with an opposite field blast.

– Pettibone has yet to give up more than three earned runs in any of his seven starts.  He has gone at least six innings in four of the seven outings.

DID YOU NOTICE?

– Span got a pretty good jump on a steal attempt in the first inning, but was gunned down by a kneeling Kratz on a perfect throw.

– Batting lefty, Freddy Galvis hit a ball about 360 feet to the left centerfield warning track in the third inning.  Tyler Moore got there, but dropped it on that was a tough play.  So it wasn’t ruled a hit, but it was the latest example of surprising pop from the 170-pound Galvis.

– The fourth inning was not a good one for the Phillies defense.   After he got to a ball up the middle, Rollins fired a throw past Howard that put Steve Lombardozzi at second base.  A Pettibone wild pitch enabled Lombardozzi to move to third and he soon trotted home on a Span single, tying the game at two.  Span easily stole second a few pitches later, but was stranded at second.  For Rollins, it was the seventh error this year.  He had 13 all of last season.

– To start the eighth inning, Galvis laid down a bunt that Lombardozzi bobbled.  But the second baseman was somehow able, mid-bobble, to deflect the ball off his knee to LaRoche at first just in time to get an incredulous Galvis.

– Young only got a single out of his game-winning hit down the right field line.  He seemed to be hobbling a little throughout the game and was replaced by Michael Martinez, who made his 2013 major league debut.  Martinez scored on Brown’s double.