Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Hoff-tastic Start By Phillies Rookie

GAME RECAP: Phillies Stun Marlins 6-2


Freddy Galvis gave a jolt to a struggling offense with a momentum-changing two-run home run that triggered the Phillies' 6-2 comeback win over the reeling Marlins on Monday at Marlins Park. The Phillies snapped their six-game losing streak, and the six runs were their most since a 7-6 win over the Rockies on Aug. 14. For the Marlins, they've now dropped four straight, and eight of nine, falling two games under .500 (68-70) and five games behind the Cardinals for the second National League Wild Card spot. "I'm just happy to get a couple of runs," said Phillies manager Pete Mackanin, after his club scored 11 runs in their past six games combined. "It was nice to see. We go on the road, and people start hitting better. Sometimes you need a change of scenery." The Marlins grabbed a two-run lead in the first inning of Phillies right-hander Jerad Eickhoff. Dee Gordon tripled to open the first, and Ichiro Suzuki had an RBI single. J.T. Realmuto added an RBI single, but Eickhoff settled down, and he yielded just those runs on six hits with four strikeouts in six innings. "That first inning, we kind of jump guys," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Then they're going to start pitching. They're going to start using their breaking ball, start using their changeup. They're going to start pitching backwards, and they're going to do some things." Miami right-hander Jake Esch was in command for four scoreless innings before Galvis' two-run homer in the fifth. Peter Bourjos tripled and scored when Cesar Hernandez reached on shortstop Miguel Rojas' error. "I just made a mistake," Esch said. "I left a ball up for him to handle." Two errors by Marlins reliever Austin Brice opened the door for the Phillies' three-run seventh inning. One of the runs was unearned. Bourjos had an RBI single, and pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes delivered a two-run single off Brian Ellington.

PHILS PHACTS: 
  • Paredes' two-run single highlighted the Phils' three-run seventh inning and increased their lead to 6-2. The Phillies had scored two or fewer runs in nine of their previous 13 games. Bourjos went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. And Galvis' homer was his 16th of the season and seventh in his past 23 games. "Maybe we've been preaching the wrong thing to [Galvis]," Mackanin said. "Maybe we should have told him he was a power hitter."
  • Eickhoff came into the game having gone at least five innings in 33 of his first 35 Major League starts, the most by a Phillies starter over their first 35 games since 1913. He added to that with a six-inning performance, allowing just two runs on six hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter, though he did hit one. He picked up his 10th win of the season after combining with relievers Edubray Ramos, Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gomez to retire 23 of the final 25 Marlins they faced. "I think I just got better [as the game went on], which tends to be a trend," Eickhoff said. "As the game gets on, I'm able to execute better. Early on, I wasn't able to do that. I was able to get out of it and kind of limit the damage to two [runs]. As the game got on, I was able to execute better."
  • The Phillies' pitchers set down the final 15 Marlins hitters they faced after Telis' pinch-hit single.
NEXT GAME:
Left-hander Adam Morgan (1-9, 6.21 ERA) takes the mound on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. ET in the middle game of a three-game series at Marlins Park. Morgan allowed just three hits (two earned runs) in his last outing, a 6 2/3-innings stint in a loss to Washington.

PHILS PHACTS:


Innings Eater – The Phillies were certainly due to give starter Jerad Eickhoff some run support. With three-run innings in the fifth and seventh, they took the first game of the three-game series on Monday afternoon, adding to the Marlins' woes with a 6-2win. Eickhoff (10-13, 3.86 ERA) went six strong innings, allowing just two runs on six hits and striking out four without walking a batter, although he did hit one. He came into the game having received just 64 runs of support in 161 2/3 innings pitched. That 3.56 runs of support per nine innings was the third-lowest among all starters in the Major Leagues this season. But the Phils broke through with a big fifth inning, scoring three runs while taking a 3-2 lead. It snapped an 18-inning scoreless streak, which tied for the club's longest stretch without scoring a run this season. "Sometimes you need a change of scenery," said Phillies manager Pete Mackanin, whose team began a seven-game road trip that continues through to Washington. "We always want to be at home, but we haven't hit well at home." "I'm looking back at that [late-June] road trip we took," Mackanin said. "We started out in Minnesota and we went through San Francisco and Arizona. As a group, we hit the ball extremely well the entire road trip and scored a ton of runs [with 57 in nine games]. I'm kind of hoping this is one of those road trips." The Phillies scored 11 runs total in their recent six-game homestand, all losses. "I think everything was going weird when we were back home," said Freddy Galvis, who got the Phillies rolling with a fifth-inning homer. "We got men on base but couldn't drive them home. We didn't get the clutch base hit. This win is going to be good for us." Galvis provided the spark, belting a two-run homer into the upper deck in right field that tied the game at 2. It was his 16th homer of the season and seventh in his past 23 games -- tied for most by a Major League shortstop since Aug. 9. "It was something we needed," Galvis said. "It was good to contribute in that situation and get things going good for us. I hope it turns us around a little bit, and we win more games." Not necessarily known for his power-hitting abilities, Galvis said that he'd like to improve on his on-base percentage. "I'll take a homer to tie the game," Galvis said. "If it's going to be winning games, I'll take the homers. For sure, I want to get more on base, more base hits -- that's my game. But if I can get a good swing and hit homers in that situation, I'll take it." That's exactly what happened in the fateful fifth inning. "I was just looking for a good pitch to get a good swing," Galvis said. "[Marlins starter Jake Esch] threw me a hanging slider, and I put a good swing on it." Peter Bourjos followed the homer with a triple and later scored the go-ahead run. He has now hit in six of his past seven games against the Marlins. Bourjos went 3-for-4 for the day, scoring twice and driving in a run. It was the 20th multihit game and fifth three-plus-hit game of his career. Pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes broke the game open with a two-run single in the seventh. The six runs scored by the Phils were the most they had scored since Aug. 14 in a 7-6 win over Colorado. They had tallied two or fewer runs in nine of their previous 13 games.


Expanding The Pen – Left-handed pitcher Patrick Schuster was one of three September callups by the Phillies. He's hoping the move is a permanent one. "It's a great opportunity," said Schuster, who posted a 1.21 ERA over 44 2/3 innings of work, which included seven saves, at the Triple-A level this season. "It's pretty cool to see that [the Phillies] were noticing the season I had in the Minors and giving me an opportunity up here on the big club," Schuster said. Schuster's role out of the Phils' bullpen will be to face left-handed hitters. "Hopefully I can prove that I can be their lefty guy for the future," Schuster said. The Florida native, from just outside of Tampa, returns to his home state for the three-game series at Marlins Park. "It's always fun coming back to Florida and playing; get to have some family here and see some familiar faces," said Schuster, who had his parents in attendance for the Labor Day afternoon game. Schuster began his career as a starter. As a senior in high school, he threw four consecutive no-hitters. "It was pretty wild," he said. "I put four good starts together and kind of got some national attention for it." Schuster played in one of the toughest districts in the state, producing Marlins ace Jose Fernandez. Drafted by Arizona out of high school in the 13th round in 2009, Schuster's role as a starting pitcher would soon come to an end. "I think [the D-backs'] intentions all along were to use me out of the bullpen," he said. But it didn't begin that way. Schuster started 15 games in 2010 in Rookie ball and had 14 starts in Class A the following year, leading the league with 119 innings pitched. It was midway through the 2011 season that the D-backs put Schuster, kicking and screaming, into the bullpen. "I had a pretty bad attitude about it," Schuster said. "I wanted to be a starter, thought I had starter stuff. From then on, I just had this chip on my shoulder to prove that I had the stuff to be a starter." Schuster went from the D-backs to Cincinnati and then to Oakland before being claimed off waivers by the Phillies on Aug. 12. He made his Major League debut with Oakland on July 5 at Minnesota and has now come to accept his role out of the bullpen. "Now I have this great pride in getting lefties out," Schuster said. "So I think it's worked out for me."

Today In Phils History – After New York’s Charles Tesreau finished a complete game 1 hitter against the Phillies in 1912 a New York sportswriter convinced the official scorer to change the hit to an error giving Tesreau the no hitter. On that same day on the other side of the country, Vince DiMaggio was born. While Curt Simmons had held the Giants to 1 hit over the first 6 innings in 1948 he also surrendered 10 walks and was finally pulled in the 7th after giving up an additional 3 hits and 3 walks. 2 years later, after getting the complete game victory in the 1st game of a double hears, Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe was pulled from the second game in the 8th inning for a pinch hitter putting an end to the possibility of matching Pete Alexander’s feat. In 2011, the Phillies won the 14th consecutive game started by Vance Worley, 1 short of Steve Carlton’s team record set in 1972.

THE BEGINNING:
The Phillies are currently 61-76 this season putting them on pace to beat most preseason predictions. All time, the Phillies are 41-78-0 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.

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