The Philadelphia Phillies won their third straight game on Saturday night, taking down the Braves 4-3. Their record improves to 8-9.
On The Mound
- Jerad Eickhoff lasted only five innings, but gave up just one run on two hits and two walks while striking out seven.
- Joely Rodriguez pitched a scoreless sixth.
- Luis Garcia came on and got the team through the sixth.
- Pat Neshek preserved the team’s 2-1 lead with a scoreless eighth.
- Edubray Ramos came on to attempt the save with both Hector Neris and Joaquin Benoit unavailable. Ramos struck out the first two batters he faced, but then surrendered a solo homer to Brandon Phillips. Ramos was able to get out of the inning with the game tied.
- Jeanmar Gomez pitched the 10th and got the win, but he continues to struggle, giving up a run on two hits and a walk.
At The Plate
- The offense generated four runs on 11 hits.
- The team put together a two-run rally in the sixth. Cesar Hernandez singled to start the inning, and Aaron Altherr doubled. Odubel Herrera would single home Hernandez, and Maikel Franco would knock in the second run with a groundout to give the team a 2-1 lead.
- Down 3-2 in the 10th, the Phils put together a late rally. Brock Stassi, Cesar Hernandez, and Aaron Altherr all singled to load the bases with one out. Odubel Herrera struck out to make the second out of the inning, but Maikel Franco came up with a two-run single to save the night for the team.
- Hernandez, Altherr, Herrera, and Franco each had two hits on the night.
- Tommy Joseph hit fifth, and went 0-3.
- Michael Saunders went 0-4.
- Freddy Galvis went 1-4.
Final Thoughts
How far has Jeanmar Gomez fallen in the team’s pecking order in the bullpen?
After starting the season as the closer, Gomez is, at best, the team’s fourth choice to close games at the moment. With Neris and Benoit unavailable, the team turned to untested Edubray Ramos over the experienced Gomez to attempt the save in the ninth.
And sure enough, when he was forced into the game during the 10th inning, Gomez quickly allowed the Braves to take a lead. Gomez doesn’t look fit to handle mop-up duty at this point.
Maikel Franco’s walk-off single was a huge moment for him. In the midst of what’s been a very slow and disappointing start to the season, Franco has now come up with big hits in two of the team’s last three wins.
An exciting last couple of Innings..Eikhoff Pitched another Strong Game,
Why only 5 Innings? He was at 98 Pitches.. Are all these Starters on a 100 Pitch Count?
It’s the new mlb Paul…. 100 or so pitches is on openi g day my son and I went..it was freezing so we ended up watching most of it on tv at a restaurant. I was talking to him about Steve Carlton and comparing his innings pitched, strike outs etc compared to today’s top pitchers… We tried to calculate what his pitch count would have been. We were pretty sure he had games that pushed 200 pitches…yet he, Seaver, Ryan etc were more durable than these guys … It’s the new reality.