Phillies 3, Cardinals 1
WP – Roy Halladay (6-6, 3.80)
LP – Barret Browning (0-1, 4.11)
SV – Jonathan Papelbon (25)
PHILADELPHIA — A bit of small ball and long ball propelled the Phillies past the Cardinals in the 8th inning.
Juan Pierre laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to move Jimmy Rollins over to third for the first out. The bunt set up a sacrifice fly opportunity for Chase Utley.
Utley was able to put the ball in the air, but instead of landing in an outfielder’s glove it landed in the back part of the Phillies bullpen to give them a 3-1 lead in and the win.
It was Utley’s eighth homer of the season as well his 196th in his career. It moved him to ninth overall in Phillies history, passing Bobby Abreu on the list.
The main story of the game belonged to Roy Halladay. Doc, who has been the hot topic as of late in regards to shutting down the 35-year-old ace, was absolutely stellar for his sixth win of the season.
Halladay pitched eight innings, allowing only a run on two hits while striking out eight. He threw 72 of his 99 pitches for strikes.
St. Louis’ only run off Halladay came in the 2nd inning. Carlos Beltran ripped a solo shot, his 28th on the season, to give the Cards a 1-0 lead.
The Phillies answered right back in the bottom half when Domonic Brown drove in Ryan Howard following Howard’s double down the line in right, tying the game up 1-1.
Halladay and Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse dueled after that. Lohse finished the game allowing only a run on four hits and a pair of walks while striking out seven in the no-decision.
Lohse gave way to Barret Browning in the 8th. After giving up a lead-off single to Rollins, Browning balked on a throw-over to first, allowing Rollins to move into scoring position before scoring on Utley’s two-run homer from third.
2B: Howard (3). HR: Utley (8).
TTB 