An 18 inning, 7+ hour baseball game typically causes some shakeups for the involved ballclubs. For the Phillies, it meant their former Cy Young pitcher would be making his return a few weeks early. Twelve hours before he was set to make the start for the Reading Fightins, Roy Halladay got the call to take the place of Tyler Cloyd as the starter for today's afternoon matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In return for his four inning shutout performance in last night's contest, Cloyd was sent down to Triple A Lehigh Valley, along with reliever Luis Garcia. J.C. Ramirez was brought up to the major league club as well.
The excitement over Doc's return was quickly drowned, as Tony Campana lead off the game with a triple into the right field corner. He was brought in to score on Adam Eaton's groundout, and within two batters, Halladay and the Phillies were already down by a run, 1-0 Arizona.
However, the home squad went right to work erasing the early deficit. In the bottom of the first inning, Patrick Corbin hit the first batter he faced, Roger Bernadina. Following a Jimmy Rollins popup, Michael Young singled and Erik Kratz walked to load the bases with one away. Darin Ruf came through with a base hit that scored Bernadina and moved each runner up a base. Rookie Cody Asche then doubled to bring home two more runs. The fourth and final run of the first frame came on a Kevin Frandsen groundout, and the Phillies exited the inning with a 4-1 advantage.
Halladay continued to look a bit shaky in the second. An infield single by A.J. Pollock and a base knock by Didi Gregorious put two on for Tuffy Gosewisch. A fly ball to Bernadina in center became a sac fly, the second run of the game for the Diamondbacks. 4-2 Philly.
In the fourth, Kevin Frandsen rolled a ball over to the shortstop Gregorious. The throw went sailing into the dugout, and a sliding Frandsen was awarded second base. The next batter, John Mayberry Jr., made the most of the error and blasted a home run into the left field seats, extending the Philly lead to 6-2.
Surprisingly, the Phillies offense sparked once more in the sixth. With one ot, Cody Asche singled to center field. After Frandsen hit the ball back to the mound, Corbin's errant throw kept Asche on the basepaths and put Frandsen at first. A walk to Mayberry spelled the end of Halladay's return, as Chase Utley was pulled off the bench to bat. He singled on a liner to right that scored Asche and kept the bases full. Heath Bell was brought into the game to relieve Corbin, but his series struggles continued as he allowed Bernadina to double and bring home two more. A 9-2 score put the game in hand for the Phillies.
After Cesar Hernandez pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Halladay, J.C. Ramirez came on in the eighth. Two straight singles by Tony Campana and Adam Eaton were matched with consecutive strikeouts by Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Davidson. Unfortunately, Ramirez couldn't finish the inning fast enough, and allowed a three run homerun to A.J. Pollock. He even allowed both Cliff Pennington and Gregorious to reach base next, but ended the inning by getting Goswisch to fly out. 9-5 Phillies.
Jake Diekman came on to close the game, and shout down Arizona in order. A 9-5 victory meant the Phillies won their second straight series, an encouraging trend. The two big performances in this one game from Roy Halladay and Roger Bernadina. Bernadina lead a Phillies offense, which, after seven hours of baseball last night, was able to score nine runs. Roger doubled for two RBI's, scored a run, and made two spectacular catches, one of which robbed a homerun. Roy Halladay, though, was the more important story. In a last-minute return to the majors, Doc looked quite impressive. Six innings, four hits, and two runs allowed were more than anyone could ask out of him after what he's had to overcome. Perhaps it is a sign of good things to come for the fan favorite. Tomorrow night, the team heads to New York to take on rookie Zack Wheeler and the Mets. Cliff Lee will be on the mound in 7:10 action.
