LDN - Sports

Rupp's 4 RBIs lead Phillies over Padres

[August 06, 2016] SAN DIEGO -- Padres starting pitcher Christian Friedrich figured he did a pretty good job limiting his mistakes Friday night at Petco Park -- except to one Phillies hitter.

"I made two bad pitches to Cameron Rupp and got burned," Friedrich said after the Philadelphia catcher hit a three-run homer and a run-scoring double to tie his career high of four RBIs and lead the Phillies to a 5-4 victory over San Diego at Petco Park.

Although Rupp was the offensive hero, it was the run scored by Phillies infielder Cesar Hernandez in the eighth -- between solo homers by the Padres' Alexei Ramirez and Wil Myers -- that proved to be the difference.

Hernandez drew a lead-off walk from reliever Jose Dominguez, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Tommy Joseph to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead.

But it was Rupp who led the attack that helped right-hander Jeremy Hellickson improve to 9-7. Jeanmar Gomez picked up his 28th save. Friedrich (4-7) took the loss.

Rupp erased a 2-0 Padres lead and put the Phillies ahead to stay with one swing of the bat with one out in the fourth.

Aaron Altherr opened the inning with a single off Friedrich and was safe at second on Maikel Franco's grounder to short when Padres second baseman Ryan Schimpf couldn't handle Jose Rondon's throw from deep in the hole toward third as the ball and Altherr arrived at the bag simultaneously.

After both runners advanced on Tommy Joseph's liner to deep center, Rupp blasted a full-count pitch 424-feet to center, the ball striking a palm tree beyond the 396-foot sign.

Friedrich called the pitch a "spinning slider."

"He left it up and I didn't miss it," Rupp said.

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin joked the pitch "was a palm ball" in reference to where it landed.

"We didn't help Friedrich in that inning," Padres manager Andy Green said. "We had a couple plays we could have made at second and we didn't make them. That changed the way Friedrich pitched."

Rupp upped the Phillies lead to 4-2 in the sixth. Franco opened the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on Joseph's ground out to short. Rupp then lined a double to left.

The Padres took a 1-0 lead in the second. Alex Dickerson opened the inning against Hellickson with a single to right. Dickerson stole second, advanced to third when Derek Norris grounded into a double play and scored on Jose Rondon's single to center. It was the first major league RBI for Rondon, who was making his sixth start at short.

The Padres added a second run in the third but missed an opportunity for more.

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Travis Jankowski opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a one-out single by Wil Myers. After both runners advanced on a balk, Jangervis Solarte drew a walk to load the bases with one out.

Jankowski scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Dickerson with Myers taking third on the play. But Hellickson retired Jabari Blash on a grounder to short.

Dickerson's sacrifice fly started a run of 13 straight hitters retired by Hellickson until pinch-hitter Ramirez pulled a 364-foot homer into the left-field seats with two out in the seventh. The first pinch-hit homer of Ramirez's career narrowed the Phillies lead to 4-3.

Ramirez was the last hitter faced by Hellickson, who allowed three runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.

"My command wasn't that good early on," said Hellickson, who was the subject of coinsiderable trade speculation before the deadline passed Monday. "The last four felt better than first three. I started getting my curve working."

After Hernandez scored to make it 5-3, Myers connected on his 21st homer, although it was his first since July 15.

Immediately after Hellickson departed with two out in the seventh, Jankowski, who earlier threw to the wrong base, greeted Phillies reliever Edubray Ramos with an apparent double. But the Padres center fielder was tagged out by second baseman Hernandez when he lifted his hand off the bag in an attempt to call time out.

Friedrich allowed four runs on five hits with four strikeouts over seven innings.

NOTES: Padres RHP Colin Rea will soon undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss all of the 2017 season. Rea, 26, was recently returned to the Padres by Miami (in exchange for RHP prospect Luis Castillo) after injuring his elbow after just 3 1/3 innings in his first start for the Marlins last Saturday. Castillo had come to the Padres as part of the seven-player trade. ... RHP Jake Thompson makes his major league debut at the Phillies starter Saturday night. ... Wednesday marked the seventh time this season that the Padres have scored 12 or more runs in a game. It is the highest total in the major leagues this season and the most for the Padres since they scored 12 or more runs in eight games in 1998. ... Myers' 21st homer of the season Friday night was his 15th at Petco Park, tying the single-season record set by OF Will Venable in 2013 and tied by OF Justin Upton last season.

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