Philadelphia Phillies defeat Boston Red Sox 6-4 as Cole Hamels strikes out nine - MLB Update
Right fielder Hunter Pence slams a homer in the fifth as the Philadelphia Phillies defeat Boston Red Sox 6-4 on May 18, 2012 at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in first match of the three game series.
First inning run-spree by the Phillies wreaked its impact throughout the game. After jumping to a four run lead, the Phillies kind of hibernated and took three more innings for recording their next run.
Meanwhile, Red Sox started their quest for chasing down the lead. As opposed to bringing flurry of runs in one inning, they were slow and steady. In the eighth, they reached the closest to the Phillies and were short by only one run for the tie.
However the Phillies substantiated their lead immediately and in bottom of the eighth, they added one more run.
Cole Hamels handicapped hitters with his splendid show on the mound as starter. In seven innings, he struck-out nine and gave up six hits.
Apart from the two home runs he gave up, on no occasion did he let the Red Sox spread their base-runners around and jump on home plate.
h**l-bent to turn the fate of the club around, Hamels spoke of his penchant for doing fine job consistently.
''I'm focused on trying to get wins, no matter how they come,'' Hamels said. ''If I can plug away and do my job, then good things will happen and they have been.''
Relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon was spot on in the ninth. An inning which has caused the Phillies to lose for number of times in the season assumed huge significance once Papelbon stepped on the mound.
He gave up just one hit and struck out one, while not conceding any run. As a result he managed to record his twelfth save of the season.
''I want to go out there and try to preserve all the wins I can for my starters,'' Papelbon said. ''I think for me I take a little extra pride in that. That's basically kind of what it boiled down to for me.''
Phillies’ offence cannot hide behind the victory. Just six hits in 27 at-bats is not the kind of performance the Phillies can take as positive for forthcoming games.
The manager will look to witness improvements in this area once they take the field next time.
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