With Cliff Lee out for the foreseeable future, rotation locks Jerome Williams and David Buchanan took the mound today during the Phillies (4-4-1) 6-5 win over the Tigers (5-4).
Williams, in his third outing of the spring, ran into some trouble, giving up two runs on four hits in three innings of work. Meanwhile, David Buchanan tossed three strong innings, surrendering just one hit. In seven innings so far this spring, Buchanan has allowed two runs.
Unfortunately, Hector Neris, in competition for a bullpen spot, struggled in just 2/3 innings of work, giving up three runs on two hits. He also walked two. Kevin Slowey came in relief of Neris and gave up four hits before making way for Luis Garcia, who got the final out of the eighth and the final three in the ninth.
Andres Blanco got the big hit for the Phils, a two-RBI triple to give the Phillies the lead in the fifth. Jeff Francoeur and Odubel Herrera contributed with two hits a piece. Freddy Galvis went 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Cody Asche also went 1-for-3 with a run scored while backup catcher Cameron Rupp pitched in with an RBI as well. Other notable starters included Ben Revere (0-4), Domonic Brown (0-2, R, 2 BB's) and Ryan Howard (0-for-3, K).
The Phillies offense broke out against Joe Nathan in the fifth. Jeff Francoeur and Cody Asche led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Francoeur stole third and then scored on an RBI-single off the bat of Freddy Galvis. With the score at 2-1, Andres Blanco stepped to the plate and hit a triple to right, scoring Asche and Galvis and giving the good guys a 3-2 edge. Cameron Rupp followed with an RBI-groundout to make it 4-2 and Odubel Herrera made a heads up base-running play to score from second as Ryan Howard reached on a fielding error a few at-bats later. That made it 5-2 Phillies. A Jeff Francoeur RBI-single capped the scoring for the Phils in the fifth, giving them a nice four-run lead going forward.
Detroit got on the board first thanks to a solo homer from J.D. Martinez in the opening frame. Rajai Davis added on a run with a sacrifice fly in the second to score Josh Wilson and make it a 2-0 game early on. After falling behind 6-4, the Tigers got a runs back against Hector Neris thanks to a two-RBI single from Jefry Marte. Ben Verlander drove in another run for Detroit, cutting the lead to one at 6-5. That was as close as the Tigers would get.
Friday afternoon at 1:05pm, the Phillies host the Rays at Bright House Field in Clearwater. Joely Rodriguez is slated to start for the Phillies. The Rays haven't announced a starter.
