Randal Grichuk’s 11th inning run scoring double rallied the Cardinals to a 4-3 win over the Phillies on Friday night in Philadelphia.
Advertisement
Pete Mackanin was looking forward to it, and not because he’s headed to home to the South Side of Chicago this week when his team takes on the White Sox.
“We talked about getting another pitcher for tonight”, the manager said of his overworked bullpen that’s made the Allentown-Philadelphia commute almost a weekly occurrence for the likes of Luis Garcia. Because of the brief interleague series in Chicago against the White Sox this week, the Phils will be off Monday, play Tuesday and Wednesday, then have an off day in NY on Thursday before playing the Mets next weekend.
By the time St. Louis was finished with its half of the fourth inning, the lead had grown to 4-0 thanks to a two-run single by Leake. “But Jeremy (Hellickson) is capable of doing that”. He remembered the Cardinals having success with him inside Friday, so he was ready when Luke Weaver came in tight Saturday. In three starts since the Phillies made a decision to keep him at the trade deadline, he has allowed six earned runs in 18 2/3 innings pitched (2.89 ERA) with 18 strikeouts against three walks. Both he and Mackanin opined that fatigue wasn’t a factor in the recent struggles. Tim Adleman pitched into and out of trouble in his first start since May 19 and added his first career hit and runs batted in as the Reds matched their season high with a fourth consecutive win. He is hitting.500 with a pair of homers in seven games during Philadelphia’s current homestand.
Hellickson said he was aware of the rotation’s 21-game stretch, but it wasn’t something he specifically took the mound with as motivation.
“I hear it and read it”, he said. “I don’t know about the rest of the guys”. It’s nothing we think about, we’ve had a few games where we’ve been cruising and something happens. “It was good to save the bullpen tonight”.
Franco’s two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the fifth that scored Hernandez, who led off the inning with a double, gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Among the Phillies’ hitters, Ryan Howard has three of their four home runs against Leake.
“If the back shoulder drops when you are hitting, your swing doesn’t level out”, Mackanin said. The veteran righty worked seven innings, surrendering seven hits and fanning 10. 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.Weaver, who singled ahead of Hazelbaker’s home run, settled in during the next three innings before the Phillies mustered a go-ahead run in the fifth.Hernandez led off the frame with a double. The 24-year-old allowed three homers for the second straight outing as his workload this season may be catching up to him. They had hit at least two home runs in eight straight entering Saturday. I know I’ve got to enjoy this adversity here and I’ve got to deal with it; manage to go with the flow and build on it.
Hector Neris allowed a hit and struck out three in the eighth before Jeanmar Gomez worked the ninth to earn his 33rd save. A single by Jhonny Peralta and double by Jedd Gyorko gave the Cardinals a further chance in the inning. “What a job both of those guys did”.
Mackanin believes the young pitcher will find whatever is missing.
Advertisement
“We had a hard time getting anything going against their starter”, Matheny said. “He probably could have given us another, but we have a couple of good guys in our bullpen to finish it off”.
