Hunter Pence is in Philadelphia and he is making his presence known.
The right-hander’s one-out double in the 10th set up Raul Ibanez’s game-winning hit as the Phils won in come-from-behind fashion, 6-5, to complete the sweep of Pittsburgh.
Pence doubled to right field, his first hit of the game and his first extra base hit as a Phillie. Ibanez, who had two homers and three RBIs in the game so far, came up with one more big hits, giving the Phils the win.
Without having to worry about being traded, Vance Worley was able to settle down and do his thing without a fear of being moved. But he was too lax, coughing up four runs in the no-decision.
Worley allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings of work. Prior to that, he had allowed only five runs in his previous 45 1/3 innings.
The Phils got on the board first in the 2nd inning. Ibanez ripped a solo home run to straight away center, nearly in the same exact spot Ryan Howard hit his shot yesterday, to make it a 1-0 game.
Pittsburgh took the 2-1 lead in the 5th when Xavier Paul hit a two-run single off Worley. But the Phils answered right back to the take the 3-2 lead on a two-run single by Jimmy Rollins.
Worley coughed up the lead again in the 6th inning. With a runner on first and two down, Lyle Overbay hit a two-run shot off the rookie, giving the Pirates a 4-3 lead. They tacked on one more run in the 7th off Brad Lidge to make it 5-3.
The 8th inning was set up for the Pirates. With the left-handed throwing Joe Beimel to face Howard, the Bucs were set up to go after the match ups in that inning. But Howard, using his Hunter Pence Protection Agency card, ripped a double to right field, causing the Pirates to switch to the right-hander Jose Veras. Veras got Pence to ground into a fielder’s choice thanks to a bad base running mistake by Howard. But Ibanez erased the blunder with his game-tying two-run jack off Veras to even it up at 5-5.
Rollins had two of the Phils seven hits, driving in two runs in the loss. Ibanez’s homer was his 15th of the season. Ibanez became the fourth player within the last four years since the Mitchell Report was released in 2007 to hit at least 15 homers past the age of 39. The previous four years to the report saw 13.
2B: Schneider (4), Howard (24), Pence (27), Ibanez (21). HR: Ibanez 2 (16).
WP: Bastardo (4-0). LP: Watson (0-2).
TTB 