Philadelphia Phillies defeat Florida Marlins 3-0 – MLB Update
The National League Philadelphia Phillies crushed the Florida Marlins 3-0 to earn a series sweep at the Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, June 16.
The Phillies’ starter Cliff Lee exhibited his class with the ball and completely outclassed the Marlins’ bull-pen. He allowed only two hits and two walks while took out four batters over complete nine innings spell. The right-hand pitcher earned his seventh
win and has improved his win-loss record to 7-5 with 3.12.
In his last three games, he has maintained his ERA to 0.38 and held the batters to .160 batting averages at his home ground, Citizens Bank Park. He also has 111 strike-outs, the second best in Majors after his fellow team-mate Roy Halladay, who is leading
with 114 strike-outs in 15 starts.
"I don't know how much more he can do," Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel said. "He did a super job."
On the other hand, Marlins’ starter, Javier Vazquez kept the batters to no-score until the fourth inning when Lee came into action with the bat. Lee entered the plate for his first at-bat and blistered a hard hit to deep right-field, earned an RBI single
and took his team to 1-0 lead.
"As pitchers, we're not expected to hit, but I try to take it serious and help the team win any way I can," Lee said.
In the fifth inning, Vazquez received a powerful blow from the Phillies’ first baseman Ryan Howard, as he launched a dazzling 386-feet long one-run homer to left-field to elevate the score to 2-0.
After this run, the Marlins’ manager Edwin Rodriguez replaced Vazquez with his reliever Mike Dunn. However, the move did not work out and he readily gave away an RBI single. The Phillies’ short-stop Jimmy Rollins hit a line drive double to right-field to
take the advantage to a 3-0 irrefutable position.
Vazquez threw five innings, allowed two runs on eight hits, walked two and took out three batters but remained winless for the seventh time in 2011 regular season. He now has 3-7 record with 6.85 ERA.
Despite scattering crucial runs, Edwin was not so embarrassed about Vazquez current performance. He said, "Vazquez kept us in the game. He just made a bad pitch to Lee."
His closer Ryan Webb did not allow even a single hit in his last two innings, however he alone was helpless to take the game back to their side.
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