The Phillies couldn’t have asked for a more masterful outing from their Ace of Aces.
Roy Halladay gave up two singles in the first inning, the only two hits he would allow all game as his beautiful Opening Day outing allowed the Phillies offense to get away with scoring only one run all day.
The Phillies and Pirates took a scoreless tie into the 7th inning. After a one-0ut single by Ty Wigginton, John Mayberry followed up with a double down the right field line to put runners on second and third.
Carlos Ruiz skied one to shallow right field and Jose Tabata’s slightly high throw allowed Wigginton to score. It was the only run Pirates starter Erik Bedard would allow through seven innings.
That one run allowed Halladay to finish his magical outing, in which he retired all but two batters, hitting Andrew McCutchen in the 4th and Clint Barmes in the 8th, in the last seven innings he pitched.
After 92 pitches, Halladay went eight innings, allowing two hits and two hit batters while striking out five. New closer Jonathan Papelbon nailed the door shut in a 1-2-3 9th inning for his first save of the season and a 1-0 win for the Phillies.
It was the usual rough start people have come accustomed to seeing Halladay surrender. He’s a battler who throws strikes and dares hitters to hit his pitches. That’s what you saw early on.
As Halladay’s game went on, the dares he was throwing at the Pirates became unhittable.
A part of that can be credited to the defense. After Halladay allowed two singles to lead off the 1st inning, he got McCutchen to ground into a double play and Neil Walker to fly out to Mayberry to end the early threat.
Mayberry had himself a nice game, both offensively and defensively. He made a couple nice catches against the wall in left field as well as going 2-for-4 with a double that set up Ruiz’s sacrifice fly in the 7th.
Ruiz, riding a .500 batting average from Grapefruit League play, had himself a nice start to the season, driving in the game’s only run while going 3-for-3.
Rookie sensation Freddy Galvis had a not-so stellar debut at the plate, grounding into two double plays, a ground out and a strike out . He did turn a double play in the 1st inning, looking comfortable turning it as a second baseman.
2B: Mayberry (1).
WP: Halladay (1-0). LP: Bedard (0-1). S: Papelbon (1).
TTB 