GAME
RECAP: Tigers Tag Phillies 5-4
On a night when the Tigers and Phillies combined for six
solo home runs, two of them from Miguel Cabrera,
Detroit pulled ahead on a Victor Martinez seventh-inning
single that scored Cabrera for a 5-4 victory Monday at Comerica Park. The
Tigers' seventh win in eight games moved them back to .500 (22-22) for the
first time since May 6. Cabrera's second two-homer game in four days included
an opposite-field loft in the third inning and a drive to left in the fifth,
both of which tied the game. Both came off Phillies starter Vince Velasquez,
who gave up as many home runs in four-plus innings (three) as he had all season
entering the night. "He's a great pitcher," said J.D. Martinez, who
went back-to-back with Cabrera in the fifth. "I think it was, in a way,
bad timing for him, because he came in here, we're hitting, and we just faced
[the Rays' Chris] Archer and [Matt] Andriese. We've faced a lot of similar
pitchers to him. So I think it was just a rough time for him to come in
here." Velasquez said he did not do a good job of using his secondary
pitches, which allowed Tigers hitters to take him deep. He also said he needed
to challenge hitters inside more effectively. "You can't pitch around it,
even if your secondary pitches aren't working," Velasquez said. "You
can use it to protect your fastball, but you've got to pitch inside to
challenge hitters." Cabrera's double to right-center off Colton Murray (0-1) in the seventh stayed in the
park, but put him in scoring position for Martinez, who lined a single into
right field. Maikel Franco and Tommy Joseph homered for Philadelphia, the latter
to tie the game at 4.
PHILS PHACTS:
- Franco hadn't homered in his previous 11 games, but his homer to
lead off the fourth off Tigers starter Mike Pelfrey was a no-doubter to left-center, giving him eight home runs on the
season. Franco also singled in the first inning.
- Odubel Herrera led off the game with a 14-pitch
at-bat against Mike Pelfrey, including nine foul balls, before lacing a
ground ball through the middle for a single. A double play erased Herrera
two pitches later, but the hit set the tone on a night when Herrera had
three hits off Pelfrey, including an RBI single in the third inning and a
liner to center in the fifth. Despite the big night at the plate, Herrera
was benched after he failed to run out a ground ball back to the pitcher
in the seventh inning. "He didn't run," Phillies manager Pete
Mackanin said. "One of the ingredients to our success, to this point,
is the fact that these guys play with energy, they play hard. We're
training them, basically, to play the game the right way, and not running
is not the right way."
- The Phillies challenged an inning-ending double play in the eighth,
arguing Freddy Galvis beat shortstop Jose Iglesias' throw to first. After further review, Galvis' foot hit
the bag ahead of Cabrera getting the ball at first. The call was
overturned, extending the inning, but Mark Lowe struck out Tyler Goeddel to end the threat.
- The Phillies signed Cuban outfielder Osmel Aguila to a
Minor League contract. He has reported to extended Spring Training in
Clearwater, Fla. Aguila had a .280 batting average and 33 home runs during
six seasons in Cuba.
- Cabrera's double was the 500th of his career, making him the 62nd
Major League player to reach the mark. Monday was also his 20th career
game going 3-for-3 or better with a home run. Only Barry Bonds (23) and
Lou Gehrig (21) have more such games in Major League history.
NEXT
GAME:
Jeremy Hellickson (4-2, 3.99 ERA) looks for his third straight win when he takes the mound
Tuesday night at Comerica Park in a 7:10 p.m. ET start. The former Tampa Bay
Rays hurler owns a 1.86 ERA in five career starts against Detroit.
PHILS PHACTS:
Lesson Learned – Phillies
center fielder Odubel Herrera led off Monday's game against the
Tigers with a 14-pitch at-bat against Mike Pelfrey, which
ended with a base hit. He went on to get hits in his next two trips to the
plate, starting his night 3-for-3. But Herrera's solid start to the night
turned sour when he didn't hustle down the line on a ground ball hit back to
the pitcher in the seventh inning. Manager Pete Mackanin pulled Herrera from
the game, and the Phillies went on to lose, 5-4. Mackanin was willing to
make a sacrifice to send a message to his team. "One of the ingredients to
our success, to this point, is the fact that these guys play with energy, they
play hard," Mackanin said. "We're training them, basically, to play
the game the right way, and not running is not the right way. It's more
important for me to set that tone than to take our best hitter out of the
lineup." Mackanin said Herrera knew right away he had made a mistake. As
he was approaching Herrera, veteran Ryan Howard was walking up to him to send him the
same message. "You've got to keep going. I know it's not the at-bat he wanted,
or whatever, but look at me, I'm still grinding," Howard said. "You
never know on a ball like that, he might mess up because you're running
hard." Mackanin said Herrera has had a bit of an issue with similar
situations throughout the season. "I've seen it in the past, and it's been
trickling in, and I just didn't like it, and I just made the decision,"
the manager said. Herrera will be in Tuesday's starting lineup, Mackanin said.
Vying For Playing Time – Tommy Joseph helped his case for the Phillies'
starting first-base job on Monday night. The rookie went 2-for-4 with a solo
home run and a double in the Phillies' 5-4 loss to the Tigers. Joseph has been
splitting time with Ryan Howard since being called up earlier this
month. With the Phils at Comerica Park for an Interleague series, Joseph got
the nod at first base Monday, while Howard started at designated hitter. That
is the expected lineup throughout the three-game series. Joseph hit a
game-tying shot to left field in the sixth inning off Tigers starter Mike Pelfrey.
Howard went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. The veteran slugger is now hitting
.156 on the season. Manager Pete Mackanin said he is going to look at the
first-base position one week at a time, but he said it is possible that Joseph
may earn the starting job at some point in the future. "At some point, it
may come to that, but I wouldn't say it's imminent," Mackanin said. The
24-year-old said he's not focused on getting the starting role, but just wants
to make an impact as he takes the opportunity to start his Major League career.
"Any time you get the opportunity to play, you're also expected to
produce," Joseph said. "Especially with as well as this ballclub had
been playing when I got called up. There's no time to mess around, and you can
see it with everybody on this team. Everybody wants to win. I'm just trying to
follow that lead." Joseph said it was a good feeling to hit his home run
in the sixth following the Tigers' three-homer fifth inning. "Anything I
can do to contribute is great," Joseph said. "It was just a 2-2
slider that stayed in the middle of the plate."
Today In Phils
History – The Phillies seemed to
have been on the wrong side of history on this day as they first made baseball
history when they lost the first night game in the major leagues to the Reds in
1935. Dodger Pee Wee Reese set an NL record by drawing walk in his ninth
straight game in 1952. And, finally, Mariano Rivera made his last regular
season appearance against the Phillies on this day in 2009 when he threw a
scoreless 19th inning against them at Yankees Stadium… a legend in
his own right, he was also the last player the Phillies would ever face who
wore the number 42. On the flip side of franchise history is the fact that
Phillies stalwart, Pat “The Bat” Burrell made his debut with the team on this
day in 2000.
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are currently 25-20 this season putting them on pace to beat most
preseason predictions. The Phillies finished the spring exceeding most
expectations compiling a record of 15-11-3 (18-11-3 if you include the
exhibition games against Reading and the University of Tampa). All time, the
Phillies are 40-61-0 on this day. I expect the Phillies to finish in the bottom
half of the division but not last in the NL East by finishing the season with a
77-85 record. Let the rebuild begin!
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