One night after giving fans a pleasant surprise in beating Miami ace Jose Fernandez, the Phillies sent Jonathan Pettibone to the mound against the Marlins on Saturday. Opposing him was Nate Eovaldi (1-1), who has been riding a mid/high-90’s fastball to a successful start to the 2014 season, including 14 strikeouts in 13 innings and just one walk across his first two starts.
The Game: The first inning was a mixed bag for Pettibone, who would spend the earlier part of the game getting a feel for the strike zone. Christian Yelich led off the game for the Marlins with a single to left. Marcell Ozuna, the next batter, hit a 3-2 pitch from Pettibone to the warning track in right, where Marlon Byrd made a nice basket-catch for the first out.
The ever-dangerous Giancarlo Stanton followed with a single that moved Yelich to second, but Pettibone worked his way out of the jam by striking out Garret Jones swinging and forcing Casey McGehee to ground out to shortstop.
Tony Gwynn Jr., filling in for Ben Revere in center field, hit a long drive that bounced off the wall in right for a double. Jimmy Rollins singled to center immediately after to plate Gwynn, and Chase Utley followed up with a hard hit double to left-center to drive in Utley. Eovaldi calmed down to retire the next three batters in order, but the damage was done as the Phillies left the first inning with a 2-0 lead.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia worked a walk to start off the second, and after Jeff Baker took a called third strike at the knees for the first out, Adeiny Hechavarria lined a single to left. Eovaldi came up to bunt with a chance to move the baserunners over, but was retired on strikes. With two outs, Yelich hit a ball to Rollins at short, and beat the throw to set up runners on the corners. Ozuna hit a ball weakly through the infield, but Ryan Howard was unable to handle the throw to first. The ball bounced out of his glove, allowing Saltalamacchia to score and cut the lead to 2-1. Stanton grounded into a fielder’s choice, and at first Ozuna appeared to have beat the throw to Rollins at second, but the play was extremely close, and manager Ryne Sandberg decided to use replay to make sure. Further review was enough to convince the umpires that the sliding Ozuna did not reach the bag before Rollins, and was called out to end top of the frame.
Pettibone struck out Jones to start the third, and worked around a Saltalamacchia single to center to retire the side for Miami. In the bottom of the inning, Gwynn recorded his second hit of the game to lead things off for Philadelphia, and moved over to second on a groundout by Rollins. Utley, who has been absolutely killing the ball lately, added another double, this one pulled just fair to right field, to plate Gwynn. Howard lined a ball softly into right-center field, away from the defensive shift the Marlins were playing to give the Phillies a 4-1 lead before Byrd grounded into a double play to end the inning.
There was a bit of a scary moment for the Phillies to start off the fourth, when Hechavarria served a Jonathan Pettiibone pitch straight back up the middle and hitting Pettibone. Pettibone appeared to be fine, however, and play resumed after Pettibone took a few warm-up pitches.
Hechavarria moved to second on a sacrifice by Eovaldi to first. With one out, Yelich hit a hard drive to centerfield off Pettibone, but Gwynn was positioned perfectly, making the catch and easily throwing out Hechavarria at second for a double play to end the top of the frame. The Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the fourth, with Yelich making an impressive, sliding catch in foul territory of Freddy Galvis’s drive to center to end the inning.
With one out, Stanton served up a no-doubter, a home run estimated at about 470 feet off of Pettibone to make it 4-2 Phillies in the top of the fifth. McGehee would collect a single with two outs, but Pettibone induced a grounder from Saltalamacchia to short to end the threat.
The Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, with Cody Asche batting for Pettibone. Justin De Fratus, coming in in relief, allowed only a single to Eovaldi in a scoreless 6th, while Eovaldi retired the Phillies’ 3-4-5 hitters in order to end the inning.
De Fratus returned for the seventh inning, but after allowing a leadoff single to Ozuna, Stanton ripped a De Fratus fastball into the left-field seats to tie the game up at 4. Mario Hollands came on in relief, and worked around a Saltalamacchia single to left to keep the game even.
Following an uneventful eighth, Jonathan Papelbon took the mound to start the ninth inning, and started off well in retiring the first two batters. McGehee, though, reached on an infield single to second before moving to second on a Saltalamacchia walk. Gregg Dobbs came in to hit for Dunn, but was forced to pop out to shortstop to end the threat. The Phillies had 5-6-7 of Byrd, Domonic Brown, and Ruiz to lead off the bottom of the ninth, but Carlos Marmol allowed just a walk to Ruiz, who would then steal second, while striking out Byrd, Brown, and Galvis to send the game into extra innings.
B.J. Rosenberg was brought in to start the tenth, and retired the Miami batters in order. In the bottom of the inning, Jimmy came to the plate with two outs against Marlins lefthander Dan Jennings, and, batting righty, hit a solo shot just over the wall in left field to give the Phillies a 5-4, walk-off win over Miami.
Notable Offensive Statistics:
Chase Utley: 2-4, 2 2B
Jonathan Pettibone: 5 IP, 8 H, 2 R(1 ER), 5 K/1 BB
Jimmy Rollins: 3-5, 2 R, HR (walk-off), 2 RBI
Tony Gwynn Jr.: 2-5, 2 R
Giancarlo Stanton (MIA): 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI
Impact: Another big win for the Phillies, who will go for the sweep tomorrow against Miami. The offense looked good for a second straight night. Chase Utley continues to hit the ball with authority, and his third inning double was the fifth of the season for him. Gwynn looked good as well in center, making some good plays and making good, hard contact. Pettibone was not as efficient as he could have been, with just 49 of his 80 pitches going for strikes, but he pitched well enough for his first start, and kept the Phillies in the game. The challenge of the call at second in the second felt like a huge play at the time, and ended up being the difference maker in a game the Phillies won in extras. The Phillies could have been down 3-2 had Ozuna been safe, which might have made all of the difference in such a close game.
Up Next: The Phillies send Kyle Kendrick (0-1) to the mound Sunday with a chance to sweep the series. The righthander lasted just five innings in allowing six runs to the Brewers in his last outing, surrendering nine hits, including two homers to Ryan Braun, and two walks. The Marlins are set to counter with Henderson Alvarez (0-2), who allowed three runs in just under six innings in his last turn at Washington. Alverez, who at one point appeared to roll his ankle, allowed six hitsto go with four strikeouts and two walks.
