By: Matthew Shinkle, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
Final: Phillies 5 , Giants 4 ❖ Attendance: 23,162
WP: Luis Garcia (1-0, 7.20 ERA) ❖ LP: George Kontos (2-2, 2.78 ERA)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Phillies continued to compete with the NL West leading San Francisco Giants in the second game of the series Wednesday night, where they surged back into the game late after starting slowly against Johnny Cueto.
The Giants racked up a 4-0 lead after the first six innings of the game, but the Phillies surged back with back-to-back home runs by Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp to come within two in the seventh inning, followed by a two RBI single by Maikel Franco in the eighth inning to tie the game at four apiece.
The Phillies bullpen pitched phenomenal in relief of starting pitcher Phil Klein, who made his first start for the team Wednesday night. Klein went five innings, allowing four earned runs and eight hits, before his teammates came in in relief, not allowing another baserunner until the 11th inning.
After a scoreless top of the twelfth inning by Luis Garcia, Franco would once again come through in the clutch for the Phillies, and bring in the winning run on a RBI single to center field.
Klein was optioned back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game, as reported by Jim Salisbury.
Scoring Summary
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E | |
| SF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
| PHI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
The Giants jumped on the Phillies quickly in the first inning, when Buster Posey singled home two runs to score Angel Pagan and Denard Span from second and third, respectively.
After a single by Hunter Pence in the top of third inning, Posey brought in another run for the Giants by doubling in Pence. Posey would later come in to score in the inning after a sacrifice fly by Brandon Belt.
Being held to just three hits by Cueto after six innings, the Phillies jumped on the scoreboard after Howard and Rupp belted back-to-back home runs to bring the game within two.
In the eighth inning, Jimmy Paredes walked to open the inning, which was followed by a single by Cesar Hernandez. After Aaron Altherr bunted the runners over to second and third, Franco singled home both the runners to tie the game at four.
The bullpen pitched superb baseball for the Phillies, allowing only two hits in the seven innings it pitched tonight.
In the twelfth inning, Tommy Joseph wore a fastball to the side to get on base to start the half-inning. Pitcher Luis Garcia then dropped the first sacrifice bunt of his career to advance Joseph to second base with just one out. Third basemen for the Giants Eduardo Nunez made his second error in as many nights on a ground ball hit by Aaron Altherr, loading the based for Maikel Franco. Once again playing the role of hero in the game, Franco would drop a single in shallow center field to bring home Joseph, and win the game for the Phillies.
Altherr, who was on second during Franco's at-bat, was called out after the run scored for failing to touch second base after the hit. Luckily, it was only the second out of the inning, and the Phillies still won the game.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Cueto | 7.2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 2.73 |
| Phil Klein | 5.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
7.20 |
Giants
- Buster Posey: 2-5, 3 RBI, 1 R, .291 AVG
- Denard Span: 3-6, 1 R, 0 K, .260 AVG
- Hunter Pence: 2-5, 1 R, .299 AVG
Phillies
- Maikel Franco: 1-6, 3 RBI, .256 AVG
- Ryan Howard: 3-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, .178 AVG
- Cameron Rupp: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, .274 AVG
Giants
- Will Smith (8th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 4.37 ERA
- Sergio Romo (9th): 0.0 IP, 1 H, 4.63 ERA
- Javier Lopez (9th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 3.86 ERA
- Santiago Casilla (9th): 1.2 IP, 0 H, 2 K, 3.05 ERA
- George Kontos (11th): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2.78 ERA
- Jake Peavy (12th): 0.0 IP, 1 H, 0 K, 5.47 ERA
Phillies
- Brett Oberholtzer (6th): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 4.93 ERA
- Michael Mariot (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0.00 ERA
- Hector Neris(9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2.43 ERA
- Edubray Ramos (10th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3.50 ERA
- David Hernandez (11th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 4.20 ERA
- Luis Garcia (12th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K, 0 ER, 7.20 ERA
What's Next
- Thursday, August 4th, 2016: vs. San Francisco Giants, 1:05 p.m.
- Philadelphia, PA – Citizens Bank Park
- RHP Vince Velasquez (8-3, 3.32 ERA) vs. LHP Matt Moore (7-7, 4.08 ERA)
- TV: CSN, MLB.TV; Radio: 94 WIP
