LDN - Sports

Triple play helps Phils hold off Padres

[August 08, 2016] SAN DIEGO -- The Philadelphia Phillies collected seven two-out hits Sunday afternoon to score five two-out runs in a 6-5 win over the San Diego Padres in the rubber match of a three-game series at Petco Park.

However, the main subject of discussion after the game was the Phillies' seventh-inning triple play that snuffed out the Padres' final rally.

"The big play to that game was the triple play," Philadelphia manager Pete Mackanin said. "We're leading by one, two on, no one out ... and just like that, we're out of the inning."

Phillies reliever Edubray Ramos opened the bottom of the seventh by issuing back-to-back walks to Derek Norris and Jose Rondon to bring up rookie Jabari Blash.

"The option there was the bunt, but I had the swing sign," Blash said.

So he swung and hit a one-hopper to Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco, who stepped on the bag forcing Norris at third. Franco threw to second baseman Cesar Hernandez for the force on Rondon coming into second, and Hernandez relayed to first baseman Tommy Joseph to just beat Blash to the bag.

"I tried to get down the line as quick as I could," Blash said.

The triple play caught the Phillies as much by surprise as it did the Padres.

"Jabari couldn't have placed the ball any better," Padres manager Andy Green said. "That was a killer for us in that situation."

Mackanin, Hernandez and Joseph all thought Franco was going to tag third and throw to first rather than go for the triple play.

"The way that ball was hit, it took Franco right toward third, which enabled him to start the triple play," Mackanin said. "But I thought Mikey was going to go from third to first."

Joseph said, "It was a heads-up play by Cesar at second. I thought Mike was coming across the infield, so that was what I was expecting before he went to second."

Hernandez added, "Every time there is a ground ball to third, I go to second because that is my instinct. But I didn't know he was coming to second or first. We had the right runner."

Blash's time to first was 4.6 seconds.

Earlier in the game, Franco threw the ball away for an error that led to an unearned run while trying to go to second for a forceout.

The triple play was the first turned by the Phillies since Aug. 23, 2009, against the New York Mets. It was also the first triple play ever at Petco Park and the 15th turned against the Padres in their 48 seasons.

It started three great innings of relief by the Phillies bullpen. Right-hander Hector Neris struck out the side in the eighth, and closer Jeanmar Gomez worked a perfect ninth to pick up his 29th save, his second of the series.

Offensively, the Phillies had five consecutive two-out hits in a seven-hit fourth, then scored an unearned run on a two-out, seventh-inning single by pinch hitter Joseph to break a 5-5 tie.

Joseph drove home Hernandez after the second baseman reached second on a two-base throwing error by rookie Padres shortstop Rondon to open the inning. Joseph's single came off left-handed reliever Brad Hand (3-3).

Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff (7-12) allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits, including two homers into the short porch down the right field line, in six innings. Padres starter Jarred Cosart gave up five runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts in five innings.

Eickhoff entered Sunday's game with the third-worst run support average (3.20) in the major leagues.

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The Phillies got more than that in the fourth inning alone, with Eickhoff's double contributing to the assault.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first when Odubel Herrera went the opposite way on Cosart and dropped a home run onto the lower balcony of the Western Metal Supply Co. building down the left field foul line.

After being shut out over the first nine innings they faced Eickhoff this season, the Padres finally got an unearned run in the bottom of the third to tie the score.

Norris, who had one hit in his previous 38 at-bats, singled to open the inning and reached third when Franco threw wildly trying to get a force on at second on the grounder by Rondon.

A sacrifice bunt by Cosart put Padres at second and third with one out, and Norris scored on Travis Jankowski's groundout to second.

The tie didn't last long.

Ryan Howard and Aaron Altherr opened the Phillies fourth with back-to-back singles, although Altherr was immediately erased on a double-play grounder.

Carlos Ruiz broke the 1-1 tie when he grounded an opposite-field single through the right side of the Padres infield -- the first of five straight, two-out hits by the Phillies.

Freddy Galvis followed with a double, and Ruiz scored from first when left fielder Alex Dickerson bobbled the ball in left-center. Eickhoff doubled home Galvis to make it 4-1, and singles by Hernandez and Herrera led to another run.

However, the Padres rallied to tie the game around two of the shortest home runs in Petco Park history.

Dickerson launched a 333-foot drive off Eickhoff in the fourth that landed in the boxes down the right field line to make it 5-2.

Jankowski and Wil Myers opened the top of the sixth with back-to-back singles off Eickhoff and advanced on Yangervis Solarte's groundout to first. Jankowski scored on Dickerson's sacrifice fly to left.

Rookie second baseman Ryan Schimpf then hit another fly to right that landed in the short-porch boxes, the two-run homer tying the game. The 326-foot homer was the fourth shortest in the 13-season history of Petco Park.

NOTES: Philadelphia's Tommy Joseph was 1-for-11 as a pinch-hitter before connecting for the game-winning hit Sunday. ... Manager Andy Green said the Padres could go to a six-man rotation when they start a run of 16 games in 16 days Tuesday in Pittsburgh. LHP Clayton Richard would start next Sunday against the Mets in New York. ... Padres RHP Tyson Ross, who has been sidelined since Opening Day with shoulder and ankle issues, threw a 25-pitch bullpen from the mound Saturday and might be close to facing live hitters. ... Sunday's win gave the Phillies an all-time record of 32-11 at Petco, the 74.4 percent winning percentage being the highest by any visiting team since the Padres' downtown home opened in 2004.

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