Opportunities are everything in a game, especially when the game is on the line. The Phillies had the perfect storm of events happen twice. Twice, they wasted it.
The White Sox waited out a marathon of an opener on a doubleheader and struck in the 11th for the game-winning run.
The Phillies just never managed the key hit. It would be another game lost as the Phillies dropped Game 1 to the White Sox, 5-4, in 11 innings on Saturday afternoon.
The Phillies picked up where they left off with early scoring. A pair of baserunners with one out led to a pair of runs. Domonic Brown scored Jimmy Rollins on a groundout and Delmon Young singled home Michael Young to give the Phillies the early lead.
Jonathan Pettibone cruised through the first four innings but hit a jam in the fifth. With two runners in scoring position and no outs, Alejandro De Aza doubled home a pair to tie the game.
In the sixth, the White Sox took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Conor Gillaspie.
Pettibone was finished after six innings. He allowed three runs on six hits, walking four and striking out six.
The Phillies tied the game on a solo home run by Darin Ruf, his second of the season.
That would be all for several innings.
In the middle of the ninth, the game was delayed for 41 minutes due to rain. Following that, the Phillies wasted prime scoring chances in the ninth and 10th innings.
The Phillies had a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs in the ninth after two singles and a balk. Carlos Ruiz flied out to shallow left. Laynce Nix struck out. Ben Revere lined out to right.
A runner reached third with one out in the 10th. Delmon Young struck out and Kevin Frandsen grounded out to short to end the inning.
The White Sox made the Phillies pay in the 11th. A two-out triple by De Aza started a rally. He scored on an RBI double by Alexei Ramirez. Ramirez scored on an error by Rollins.
The Phillies brought the tying run to the plate in the 11th and even got him on base. Humberto Quintero singled home a run with one out to cut the lead to one. But a double play by Ben Revere ended the game.
The Phillies dropped to 46-48 with the loss and will return within the hour for another game. John Lannan starts against Hector Santiago.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Philliedelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
