The Philadelphia Phillies snapped their five-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Giants 5-3. Their record improves to 18-35.
On The Mound
- Ben Lively made his season debut, anchoring the team with seven strong innings, allowing one run on four hits and three walks.
- Pat Neshek struck out the side in a scoreless eighth.
- Hector Neris tried his best to blow the game in the ninth, allowing two runs on four hits.
- Things got so bad for Neris, the team had to call on banished former closer Jeanmar Gomez to get the final out. Gomez was able to do so, earning his second save of the year.
At The Plate
- The offense put up five runs on 11 hits.
- Odubel Herrera had a big day at the plate, going 2-4 and driving in three runs. Herrera doubled twice.
- Tommy Joseph hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, his ninth of the year.
- Freddy Galvis went 2-3 with a couple of singles, and drove in a run.
- Cesar Hernandez went 2-4 with a pair of singles.
- Maikel Franco went 2-4 with a double.
Final Thoughts
This game was more of what a lot people might have expected from the Phillies coming into the season.
Solid starting pitching. Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco supplying big hits in the order. A little power from Tommy Joseph. Hopefully today’s effort was something these guys can build off of and get out of what have been season-long funks, but games like this have been the exception, not the rule in the 2017 season.
The biggest positive from today’s effort was the debut of Ben Lively. After watching both Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff struggle to make it through the third inning, Lively gave the team a nice shot in the arm with a seven strong. We’ll see how he does as the league gets more of a book on him, but today’s effort was encouraging and refreshing for a team that had been in absolute tailspin.
