Jimmy Rollins bats in the first inning. Photo courtesy John Shields
The Phillies headed south to Bradenton, Florida to face the Pittsburgh Pirates with Jimmy Rollins in tow. Jeff Manship took the mound first in his quest for the fifth starter spot in the Phillies rotation. Manship pitched well, but a late-inning bullpen implosion would keep the Phillies from their fifth Spring Training win.
The Game: The Phillies would score first in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. Leadoff hitter Tony Gwynn, Jr. would reach first base on an error. Taking advantage of the free base, Gwynn stole second base. On a Jimmy Rollins groundout Gywnn advanced to third base, and he scored when Chase Utley grounded out to first base. This was an impressive display from Gwynn, who is simulataneously competing with Bobby Abreu and John Mayberry for a space on the Phillies' bench.
The Pirates would immediately respond. Andrew McCutchen would hit a wind-aided home run off of Manship to left field to tie the game 1-1. Manship would down the Pirates in the second inning, but run into some trouble in the third inning.
To lead off the third, Clint Barmes doubled. Starling Marte followed that up a bunt single that moved Barmes to third base. Neil Walker followed with a single which brought the second run home for the Pirates. Manship would get McCutchen to ground into a double play and struck out Pedro Alvarez to end the threat.
After Manship departed, the Phillies went to their bullpen's back-end to face some of the Pirates' top hitters before they left the game. Justin De Fratus relieved Manship and continued his strong Spring with a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
De Fratus came back out for the sixth and gave up a gift single to Andrew McCutchen. The ball was hit to shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who was unable to handle it. However, the official scorer ruled the ball a hit. Jake Diekman would relieve him to come in and face the left-handed Pedro Alvarez. Diekman got Alvarez and three quick outs.
B.J. Rosenberg relieved Diekman in the seventh and initially continued the success of the other back-end relievers. In the seventh, Rosenberg gave up just one hit. The inning ended with a stikeout of first baseman Travis Ishikawa. However, the eighth would go much differently.
Rosenberg came back for the eighth inning and gave up three straight hits to start the inning. The third one came off of the bat of former Phillies utility man Michael Martinez, who singled up the middle to drive in the Pirates' third run of the day. Rosenberg then walked Mel Rojas, loading the bases. Junior Sosa flied to John Mayberry, deep in left field for a sacrifice fly that allowed both Rojas and Martinez to move up a base, too. Both would score on a Willy Garcia single to drive home the Pirates' fifth and sixth runs. Mario Hollands would relieve Rosenberg and end the trouble in the eighth inning.
On the Phillies' offensive side, the Phillies would get their first hit in the second inning on a Domonic Brown single. Brown would be erased on a John Mayberry groundout to end the second inning. Darin Ruf would hit an RBI double that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the third inning. Chase Utley would bring Cody Asche home with a single in the fifth for the third Phillies run and Ryan Howard would hit an opposite field home run in the sixth inning to score the Phillies' fourth run.
The Phillies entered the top of the ninth inning down 6-4. Mayberry walked on four pitches from the very wild Yao-Hsun Yang. Asche followed with a four-pitch walk of his own, too. Tony Gwynn attempted to give himself up in the form of a bunt and was hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded and no outs, the Pirates pulled Yang in favor of Josh Kinney.
With Kinney on the mound, Ronnie Cedeño would pop up in the infield for the first out. The Phillies got a fifth run when Kinney walked Cesar Hernandez on a full count. However, catcher Wil Nieves followed by grounding into a double play to end the Phillies threat and the game.
Impact: Manship was not dominant like other outings, but pitched fairly well. Whenever Manship got into trouble, he kept after hitters and got them out. Manship improved his chances for the fifth spot in the starting rotation. De Fratus and Diekman showed continued progress toward becoming a solid back-end of a bullpen, each with dominating outings. Darin Ruf went 2-4 with an RBI.
Up Next: The Phillies will play their second night game tomorrow night, this time in Fort Myers against the Boston Red Sox. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. as the MLB Network will carry the Red Sox NESN feed.
