It’s rare to see a visiting player get a curtain call for hitting a home run, but Chase Utley accomplished the feat not once, but twice in Philadelphia Tuesday night in the Dodgers 15-5 trouncing of the Phillies.
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The Phillies will try with all their might to make Chase Utley feel like a loser one final time this year Thursday, when Jerad Eickhoff (8-12, 3.82) toes the rubber for the Phils against Dodger rookie Ross Stripling (3-4, 4.07), and fans get one last chance to pay respects a team legend. “The standing ovation before my first at-bat was something that I’ll never forget, to be honest with you”.
“It’s completely overwhelming”, Utley said. It was truly special.
With his walk-up song from his days as a Phillie blaring, Led Zepplin’s “Kashmir”, Utley received a standing ovation that lasted almost a minute and half. He pitched against the Phillies last week in Los Angeles, he allowed two runs in six-plus innings of work, suffering a 6-2 loss. Utley called it the most nervous at-bat of his career and he took a called third strike.
“I just continue to do the things that are working”, said Gonzalez, who had an epidural in early May to deal with back problems. “There are so many times I’d meet a father with his son or even a mother who would praise the way I played, and would tell me they want their son to play that way”.
Utley stepped to the plate for the third time in the top of the fifth inning and drilled a Vincent Velasquez fastball for a no-doubt solo home run to right-center field, pushing the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1. Mariot came on in relief and struck out Howie Kendrick, but Rob Segedin singled to left to drive in a run and leave the bases loaded for Utley.
“I don’t know”, he said.
“He threw the ball well”, Roberts said. He struck out nine and walked one.With two outs and the bases empty in the second, Rupp lined Maeda’s first pitch, a curveball, over the fence in center field for his 14th homer of the season.Kendrick hit a two-run homer with one out in the fifth.
Gonzalez added another two-run shot in the seventh to break the game open, his first multi-homer game since July 17, 2015 in Washington.
Major League Baseball owners approved the sale of a controlling stake in the Seattle Mariners from Nintendo of America to a group of minority owners led by Western Wireless Corp. founder John Stanton and retired Microsoft executive Chris Larson.
In Cincinnati, Tucker Barnhart’s first career grand slam capped the Reds’ five-run first inning, giving Anthony DeSclafani all the support he needed to beat his former team. They have won five straight series in Philly. He’s batting.426 with 12 homers and 18 RBIs in 11 games against Baltimore this season. They would score another run off of Kazmir in the bottom of the sixth inning when Tommy Joseph hit a solo shot.
Howard, meanwhile, has a four-game hit streak going after a home run on Tuesday.
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For Seattle, leadoff hitter Norichika Aoki went 3-for-4, including a double.
