Phillies 7, Rockies 6
WP – Jonathan Papelbon (1-2, 2.28)
LP – Rafael Batencourt (1-3, 3.28)
PHIADELPHIA — Twice Rafael Batencourt produced two ground balls but twice his infield failed to get the batters out on them.
Back-to-back infield hits, the second being on a catching error by Todd Helton, resulted in the Phillies 7-6 walk-off win in the 9th inning.
The game was nearly lost in the 9th with Jonathan Papelbon on the hill. He gave up a two-out RBI single to Dexter Fowler that gave the Rockies a 6-5 lead in the 9th inning.
But the Phillies rallied with two outs in the bottom half.
Ty Wigginton singled with two outs to set up Hunter Pence’s RBI double off the wall in the corner of left field. Wigginton was running on the pitch and scored from first to tie the game, 6-6.
With runners on first and second and two outs, Shane Victorino legged out a ground ball up the middle, beating Marco Scutaro’s throw. The next batter, Placido Polanco, hit the ball in the same spot, but this time Helton couldn’t find the bag and Polly was safe, scoring Pence from third.
Papelbon has been excellent in save situations. But when he isn’t preserving a lead he has an awful 5.79 in 9 1/3 innings and 10 appearances this season.
It wasted a solid outing by Joe Blanton. He went seven innings, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out six.
Granted Blanton gave up five runs in his start, the sixth time he’s done so in his last seven starts, he kept the Phillies in the game by retiring the last 11 batters he faced.
With Blanton struggling through the first 3 1/3 innings, the offense needed to be on and it was.
The Phils took a 1-0 lead in the 1st on a Pence ground out that drove home Juan Pierre. But Blanton gave up a three-run homer to Wilton Rosario in the top of the 2nd to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead. It was the eighth straight game Blanton allowed a home run in.
The Phillies responded right back in the bottom of the 2nd. Michael Martinez took Rockies starter Alex White deep to right center for his first home run of the season, a three-run shot that gave the Phillies back the lead, 4-3.
Colorado tied the game back up in the 3rd on a Michael Cuddyer solo homer and the teams traded runs in the 4th with a Chris Nelson home run and Jimmy Rollins RBI double to even the teams up, 5-5.
2B: Mayberry (11), Rollins (16), Pence (12). 3B: Pierre (3). HR: Marinez (1).
TTB 