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The Phillies got off to a nice start in interleague play. With Cole Hamels on the mound, the Phillies were able to take game one of the three game series against the Boston Red Sox, 5-1.
Cole Hamels is starting to show signs that he might be "back" as the dominant pitcher we once saw. Hamels looked really good on Friday, hitting his spots and mixing in a bunch of curveballs and a few cutters.
Hamels had a bit of a slow start in which he gave up a solo home run in the first and threw 44 pitches in his first two innings. But Hamels ended up going 7 innings and only allowed three hits, one walk with eight strikeouts.
After worrying many Phillies fans, Hamels has a 2.36 ERA through four starts in May after a 5.28 ERA in five starts in April.
The Phillies would give Hamels enough offense to relax a little. The Phillies faced John Lackey on Friday and Howard was the first to get him with a solo home run to lead off the fourth. Then Jayson Werth hit a high fly to left field that J.D. Drew couldn't find and the ball dropped in and Werth advanced to second. Take that, Drew boy. Werth would score on an RBI single by Victorino to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
Werth would add to that lead in the fifth. With a runner on base, Werth mashed a fast ball into the upper deck in left field. It was plenty fair and gave the Phillies a 4-1 lead. The Phils would extend the lead to 5-1 with an RBI single by Howard in the sixth.
JC Romero closed the door in the ninth, but not easily. Baez started the inning and Romero entered with two runners on base and one out. Romero eventually faced David Ortiz as a pinch-hitter with two outs and the bases loaded. He was thinking one thing: a grand slam to tie the game. He came close, hitting a fly ball five feet from the wall in dead center field. But it counted and the Phils escaped with a 5-1 win.
There was a big down side to this game, however. In his first game in the leadoff spot since being injured, Rollins came up limping in the sixth after singling up the middle. He knew it was his calf right away and walked immediately to the dugout.
Rollins said the calf tightened up in the fourth inning and he felt it pop after pivoting on his single in the sixth. But he said it started to feel a little better later in the night and said, "not nearly as bad as the last time," Rollins said. Let's hope so.
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