Cole Hamels strikes out eight as Philadelphia Phillies rout Houston Astros 12-6 - MLB Update
Cole Hamels strikes-out eight while starting for the Philadelphia Phillies as he leads them to a thumping 12-6 win against the Houston Astros on September 14, 2012 at Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas in the second game of the four match series.
Phillies replied furiously after getting downed by the Astros in the last game. Winning matches at the moment are extremely important for Philadelphia.
In order to capitalise on the recent winning streaks, maintaining perfection is critical at this stage of the season.
However, they were unsettled by the Astros in the first game which means an immediate come back from them was required as they entered into this game.
Fortunately, both their batters and the pitchers have obliged by helping the club beat the Astros comprehensively on Friday.
Right in the first inning, Phillies jumped to a four runs lead, announcing that they are going to make it extremely difficult for Houston this time around to win.
While Philadelphia faced resistance from the Astros, at the end of the day their lead proved too much for the opposition.
Phillies struck 16 hits in the match. Their batters namely the shortstop Jimmy Rollins, first baseman Ryan Howard and the second baseman Chase Utley did bulk of the damage offensively to the Astros.
Rollins connected two hits in six at-bats. Left fielder Domonic Brown and Rollins slammed a home-run in the match for the Phillies.
As far as the pitchers were concerned, Hamels finished seven innings and gave up four runs. He earned his 15th win of the season.
Hamels is ecstatic because winning the match holds significance at this juncture for the Phillies.
"Just being able to come out and put up the runs early is huge, just because you want to just get the momentum back," Hamels said. "Especially after last night, you want to get things rolling again and get the positive mojo going so we can get back into
how we know we've been playing baseball for the last week."
Phillies currently have an ideal opportunity to win the remaining two games in the series. Their offence is back to where it has been in the last few months.
It will be exciting to see if the Phillies can carry their winning momentum forward in the remainder of their series.
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