Colorado 5, Philadelphia 2
When: 3:05 PM ET, Saturday, May 30, 2015
Where: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Temperature:
86°
Umpires:
Home -
Scott Barry, 1B -
Ted Barrett, 2B -
Chris Conroy, 3B -
Angel Hernandez
Attendance:
23510
By The Sports Xchange
PHILADELPHIA -- At Citizens Bank Park, the Colorado Rockies look right at home.
They followed a three-homer performance Friday night with three more on Saturday afternoon to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2.
Just like at their hitter-friendly Coors Field, the Rockies are putting plenty of baseballs in the seats. During back-to-back wins in Philadelphia, Colorado hit six homers, accounting for all but two of its nine runs.
"It's a good ballpark to hit," Rockies left fielder Brandon Barnes said after going 2-for-4 with a double and a run. "We'e not trying to go up there to hit homers, we're just trying to get good pitches to hit and drive the ball, and it's going to go out."
Indeed, they are.
Third baseman Nolan Arenado, catcher Michael McKenry and first baseman Ben Paulsen hit solo home runs to help the Rockies (21-26) win for the sixth time in their last seven games.
Meanwhile, the Phillies (19-32) can barely hit any, collecting just one home run in their last six games -- all losses -- to tie their worst skid of the season and fall a season-low 13 games below .500.
"It's pretty good hitting weather out there," Philadelphia manager Ryne Sandberg said. "We have the flags blowing and we have some guys who are capable of hitting it out of the ballpark. So we'd like to see more contact first and then some balls going out of the ballpark."
Not only did Colorado have the pop, but it got the pitching from an unexpected source.
With scheduled starter Jorge De La Rosa scratched because of a cut on his middle finger, Rockies right-hander Eddie Butler (3-5) worked six innings of one-run ball to pick up his first win since April 24. The 24-year-old, who came into the game with a career 5.19 ERA, needed just 78 pitches to do so.
"You get good starting pitching, the rest of the game tends to fall into place," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "It's all about the starting pitcher setting the tone and our starting pitchers have done a real nice job over the last couple of weeks, and it's no coincidence we're winning more games. They've done a really good job."
Butler gave up a first-inning run on an RBI double to Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard before the Rockies went ahead 2-1 on homers by Arenado and McKenry.
In the bottom of the third, Butler saw Howard again in a key sequence. With two men aboard and two outs, the Phillies slugger grounded out to end the inning.
"(McKenry) comes out and kind of says, 'Hey, you're all right, let's go right at (Howard) here,'" Butler said. "And I told him, 'Hey, we're gonna blow him up, we're gonna go fastballs in on him.' That was the game plan on that at-bat and it worked out -- got a little jam-shot flare."
Phillies right-hander Aaron Harang (4-5) delivered his 10th quality start, tying him for most in the major leagues, but received little run support. The 37-year-old, who entered Saturday with a 1.36 ERA since May 4, allowed two runs in six innings and struck out seven.
Harang had allowed just two earned runs in his first 30 2/3 innings pitched at home. However, the Phillies scratched out just two runs, giving them four in their last three games.
"You can only go out there and do what you can do," Harang said. "If you do that and stay consistent, the numbers will show it. My biggest thing is my innings pitched and my starts and going out there and giving us a chance to win."
With the Rockies still nursing a 2-1 lead, Paulsen joined the home run party in the top of the seventh by smacking one off the facing of the second deck in right field before pinch-hitter Rafael Ynoa stretched Colorado's lead to 4-1 with an RBI single.
After Arenado tacked on another run with an RBI single in the next inning, the Phillies threatened in the bottom of the eighth and ninth but stranded four runners to go quietly.
Pinch-hitt
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Colorado |
|
Philadelphia |
|
Eddie Butler |
Player |
Aaron Harang
|
|
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
|
6.0 |
IP |
6.0 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
7 |
|
4 |
Hits |
4 |
|
1.50 |
ERA |
3.00 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Colorado
|
10 |
3 |
21 |
.278 |
12 |
10 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Philadelphia
|
8 |
1 |
13 |
.229 |
18 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
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