DENVER -- How do you figure this one? The Phillies came into baseball’s ultimate hitter’s park with the third-worst bullpen ERA (4.51) in the majors Friday night. And, of course, that bullpen held the majors’ second-highest scoring team scoreless for 4 2/3 innings.
That’s almost as hard to believe as a team getting 16 hits and scoring just three runs.
After losing their fifth straight game earlier this week, the Phillies have put together a modest, and improbable, two-game winning streak. One night after the aforementioned 16-hit victory in Minneapolis, the Phils ventured into Coors Field on Friday night and rallied for an 8-7 win over the Colorado Rockies (see Instant Replay).
Kyle Kendrick’s specialty since moving into the rotation last August has been keeping his team in ballgames, but he didn’t do that in this one. He was roughed up early and often and left the game trailing, 7-2, in the fifth inning. A sextet of relievers held the Rockies scoreless the rest of the way and the offense, led by Freddy Galvis’ four RBIs in two innings, surged for six runs to go on top.
Good work with the bats.
Good work out of the ‘pen.
There was one other thing the Phillies benefited from in this game.
Instead of rolling over and taking another loss, they showed some guts in pulling out a win.
“I hope we did,” manager Charlie Manuel said.
Manuel revealed that he had a little talk with his position players in the indoor batting cage before the game.
Was it more Bobby Knight or Knute Rockne?
“A little bit of both,” he said.
Manuel added, “I thought it was good. I wanted to talk to them about our base running, and leads and who we are and how we’ve been doing and what we have to do.
“We’re going to get better. And we have to.”
As poorly as the Phillies have played recently, they are just 6½ games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. They are 3-5 on this road trip and, as bad as it has been, they still have a chance to go .500 on it if they win Saturday and Sunday. That would bring them right back to the .500 mark for the season.
There were a bunch of key moments in Friday night’s win.
Reliever Jeremy Horst entered a 7-2 game with runners on base in the fifth and got a big double play ball to keep the game in check. Mike Stutes followed with a scoreless inning in the sixth. The Phils took the lead in the top of the seventh against Wilton Lopez, the reliever they nearly traded for last winter before having health concerns, and Jake Diekman, just up from Triple A, and Justin De Fratus protected it.
Mike Adams and Jonathan Papelbon closed it out. Papelbon struck out dangerous Michael Cuddyer -- it was the Phils’ only K of the game -- with a runner on second for the second out and got Todd Helton on a ground ball to end the game.
Galvis had been 1 for 22 on the trip before belting a two-run triple to highlight a three-run sixth. He smacked another two-run triple -- past the aging Helton at first -- into the right-field corner to highlight another three-run inning in the seventh. Jimmy Rollins, who did not start because of a sore foot and hip, put the Phils ahead with a pinch-hit single. Of course, those two hits don’t happen if John Mayberry Jr. doesn’t work an eight-pitch walk with two outs.
“That was a good comeback for us,” Manuel said.
“A good team win,” Galvis said. “Everyone did their job. That’s good for us.”
Manuel was particularly pleased with his bullpen, especially how some of the youngsters responded.
“That’s how you grow and build confidence,” he said.
Despite his poor outing, Kendrick was all smiles after the game. It isn’t often a Phillies starting pitcher gets lit up then gets off the hook because his teammates exploded for a bunch of runs.
“Obviously, it wasn’t my night,” he said. “I couldn’t make a pitch. But the offense and the bullpen picked me up.”