Phillies Come Out On Top Of Wacky Game With Rockies
Submitted for your approval: a game so nutty it deserves its own Twilight Zone episode.
Fourteen pitchers. Twenty-three runs. Caroms and gaffes not normally seen with the Phillies.
It was the kind of game that exemplified the idea of never leaving early or turning off baseball – especially at Coors Field. And thanks to a nine-run inning, the Phils came out on top of the Rockies 12-11.
Coupled with the Braves’ loss, the Phils moved to within two games of first place in the NL East. The Giants were idle Thursday, allowing the Phils to increase their wild-card lead to two.
Just Chase Utley’s night seemed to encapsulate the odd twists and turns. His error in the second cost the Phils at least a run … but he just might have made up for it. Utley finished with six RBI (not a typo), including a grand slam that served as an exclamation point for the Phils’ nine-run seventh inning.
Utley got the scoring going in the seventh with an RBI single. Ryan Howard (more on his ninth-inning error later) crushed a ball to plate two, and Jayson Werth made it back-to-back bombs. With Shane Victorino and Brian Schneider aboard, pinch hitter Ben Francisco singled. And Utley came through with the hammer with the bases loaded.
“It’s a good yard to hit in. It seems like the runs never stop here,” Utley said.
That offensive explosion in the thin air of Denver allowed the Phils to come back from a 7-3 deficit. It didn’t start out pretty, as starter Joe Blanton dug himself a 4-0 hole and was out of the game after 4 2/3 innings.
Blanton scored on a sacrifice fly, but that was just the start of the strangeness that was on Thursday night. Mike Sweeney picked up an RBI hit-by-pitch, and Antonio Bastardo sandwiched a bad bounce off his glove in between strikeouts of Carlos Gonzalez and Todd Helton.
Later, Shane Victorino couldn’t catch up to a fly ball and Chad Durbin looked very human.
And, of course, a Twilight Zone Phils Edition wouldn’t be complete without Brad Lidge making life interesting. Howard fumbled a grounder to first, and Dexter Fowler would soon score. Lidge walked Helton, then struck out Clint Barmes.
For the final out, he induced a sharp ground ball to third that Placido Polanco scooped up and won a foot race to third.
Thanks to the crazy victory, the Phils finished their road trip 6-1. They return home Friday to face the Brewers.
“This park, it’s tough,” Utley said, referring to Coors Field. “But we hung in there and we got it done.”
Comments