When Jeremy Hellickson trotted out to the mound early on a sparkling Saturday evening at Citizens Bank Park, you could feel a nice sigh of relief coming from the Phillies dugout. He retired the Cardinals in order in the second and third innings on 22 combined pitches, which raised his total to 50.
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Twenty-one games had gone by.
Hellickson was the first Phillies starter to last seven innings since Jerad Eickhoff in Miami July 26. St. Louis 1B/OF Brandon Moss was scratched from Friday’s lineup after originally being part of it. Kolten Wong was inserted at second base while Matt Carpenter moved to first base.
“After the first at-bat, I didn’t really think (Velasquez) could beat me with his fastball because I wasn’t necessarily looking for it and I got to it easily”. They know what I throw and I know what I have to do and what I like to use.
“It’s hard to hit one a game for a consistent amount of time”, Matheny said. “It was good to save the bullpen tonight”. It was the club’s longest streak since May 27-June 9, 2013, which was also 14 games long. Hellickson, making his first start since leaving his August 10 start with a lower-oblique injury, allowed two runs on seven hits.
“You’ve got a guy like Hellickson that can give you the seven innings that we needed”.
Jeanmar Gomez, a night after blowing a save, allowed a one-out single before getting Jedd Gyorko, Friday night’s ninth-inning hero, to ground into a game-ending double play.
“Without question”, Mackanin said. “But it turned out a little differently”.
Hellickson struck out the side in the first inning, working around a one-out double from Stephen Piscotty.
The Cardinals led the league in home runs entering Sunday afternoon’s game with 169 long balls. Gyorko hit a game-tying two-run homer off Gomez on Friday in the ninth inning of St. Louis’ 4-3 victory in 11 innings. Hernandez went 3 for 4, scoring twice while finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
In the same inning, Tommy Joseph worked an 11-pitch at-bat that ended with a strikeout and the second out of the inning. After recording two outs, Weaver yielded a double to Maikel Franco off the glove of a diving Hazelbaker and Cameron Rupp followed with a soft liner to left field for an RBI single.
The Cardinals have 24 homers in their last 11 games, just one each by Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta, who led the club past year with 28 and 17, respectively, for the season.
He struck out his final batter, Greg Garcia, to end the seventh, retiring eight of the last nine batters he faced.
Hellickson improved to 10-7 on the year. Jhonny Peralta is 4-for-9 in the series and batting.319 with three homers and 21 RBIs in 24 career encounters with Philadelphia.TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), CSN PhiladelphiaPITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Mike Leake (8-9, 4.78 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Vince Velasquez (8-5, 4.14) Leake recorded a pair of no-decisions in his last two starts despite allowing three runs on six hits in six innings in both outings.
“They got me yesterday”, Hernandez said, with a smile. “I just want to take advantage of the opportunity”. But his presence is needed now more than ever for a pitching staff and team trying to get through the rest of what’s likely another season without playoff baseball.
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Red Sox 10, Tigers 2 – At Detroit: David Ortiz homered and Rick Porcello returned to Comerica Park with seven strong innings as Boston routed Detroit.
