The Phillies lineup showed flashes of power tonight and it was enough to propel Ethan Martin to his second career win. It was also the Phils first back-to-back win since July 19th.
Offensively, the Phillies showed signs of improvement. They took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a fielder’s choice by Cody Asche. It was Asche’s ninth career RBI in 57 at bats. Not soon after, John Mayberry, Jr. blasted his ninth homer of the season with two men on base. Carlos Ruiz added a solo shot in the fifth to give the Phils a 5-0 lead. Chooch benefited from hitting in the two-hole this evening, going 2-4. Ryne Sandberg mentioned prior to the game that he wanted to take advantage of his Ruiz’s situational hitting by moving him up in the batting order. He also spoke at length about his focus on getting Jimmy Rollins going offensively – i.e. seeing more pitches, getting on base and scoring runs.
Ethan Martin pitched well tonight, going 6.1 innings with 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. This represented the longest outing in the 24-year old’s budding career. Although he had trouble escaping the seventh inning and allowed 2 runs, Justin DeFratus’s relief minimized the damage. Martin started the game with a strong 12-pitch first inning which allowed him to go longer than previous games, but he still had trouble during his third time through the opponent’s lineup. Still, it was an encouraging start for the righty auditioning for a spot in the 2014 rotation.
Luis Garcia took the mound in eighth inning and coughed up 2 runs on 2 singles and 2 walks before being yanked for Jake Diekman. After a strikeout to record the second out, Diekman was called for a balk on an odd play during Nolan Arenado‘s at bat. Arenado seemed to shiver after Carlos Ruiz moved behind the plate and Jake Diekman thought time had been called. It had not, and after a short argument by the new Phillies skipper, Diekman recovered quickly to strikeout Arenado with a 99-mph fastball. The drama of the eighth inning certainly energized the CBP crowd of 35,000+. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth, earning his 21st save on the season and first since July 11. Unfortunately during the inning, Carlos Ruiz took a hard pitch off the facemask.
Tyler Cloyd makes his return to the Phillies to start tomorrow at 7:05pm.
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