With John Lannan and Ricky Nolasco on the hill making the start, it was sure that either tonight would be a slugfest, or tonight would be a pitcher's duel. Tonight's series opener was indeed a pitcher's duel through out most of the game.
Ben Revere led off the game with a single, but was stranded on third as his teammates were unable to drive him in. The Marlins would be retired in order to start the game. Lannan would walk a batter, but would retire the rest of the side to get through the the first five innings allowing just two hits.
Ryan Howard followed a Chase Utley strike out with a ground-rule double in the fourth inning, but was stranded at third. The Phillies would continue to strand men on base through the fifth inning. All together they left 15 men on base tonight.
In the 6th inning, things got interesting as Ryan Howard doubled for the second time in the game. After advancing to third on a ground out, Domonic Brown delivered with an RBI double. Phillies lead, 1-0.
The Marlins would strike back in the bottom half of the sixth. Juan Pierre reached first via hit by pitch and would be moved over to second on a ground out. The very next play, none other than Placido Polanco would do something that he does a lot: hit. With Polly driving in Pierre with a single to left, the Marlins tied it back up. 1-1 game.
Both Nolasco and Lannan would go six innings before handing the game over to their bullpens. Nolasco allowed one earned run on seven hits while striking out just one. Lannan would allow an earned run on three hits while striking out two. It is Lannan's second-straight strong start. In 13 innings of work, Lannan has received just two runs in return from his team.
Antonio Bastardo would strike out the side in the bottom of the seventh. Dating back to his last 20 games of 2012, Bastardo has struck out 35 of last 78 batters he's faced.
The game would go scoreless both ways until the top of the 10th inning. Things got interesting after Ben Revere singled and stole a base. It got even better when Chase Utley ripped a fastball down the right field line and legged out a triple, scoring Revere easily. They would add on another insurance run after Howard was intentionally walked and Utley was driven in by a Michael Young single. 3-1 Phillies.
The bells tolled somewhere as Jonathan Papelbon came in to close the game out. With a 1-2-3 10th inning, Papelbon notched his second save of the year. Boom, Phillies win.
The Phillies are now at .500 with tonight's win. Tomorrow they will attempt to get above .500 as Cole Hamels (0-2, 10.97 ERA) takes on Jose Fernandez (0-0, 1.80 ERA) at 7:10 PM ET.
Erik Seybold is the Captain of Journalistic Activities at Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter.
