Phillies walk off on Francoeur’s home run
On a day where the Phillies celebrated Christmas in July, Jeff Francoeur gave the fans a present in the form of a walk-off two-run home run. In the process, he kept his team hot with an 8-7 win over the Marlins, completing the team’s first sweep since mid May.
“Hitting season,” as former manager Charlie Manuel used to call it, was in full effect as the two clubs combined for 15 runs and 24 hits on a scorching hot day at the park. The Phillies’ bats struck early in the second, scoring five runs highlighted by a pair of home runs by Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis. Howard’s home run—an absolute bomb to the second deck in right field—was the 350th of his career and his 16th of the season.
While Francoeur’s homer wasn’t the longest, it was the one that decided the game. After Ken Giles
gave up two runs in the eighth inning to give the Marlins a 7-6 lead, Francoeur followed a Carlos Ruiz walk with a two run shot to left, winning the game for the Phillies, 8-7.In what could’ve been his last start at Citizens Bank Park as a Phillie, Cole Hamels had his second-straight poor outing, giving up five runs on eight hits over just three innings. The lefty has now given up 14 runs in his last 6 1/3 innings-pitched with only 12 days left before the July 31 trade deadline.
