Philadelphia Phillies edge out San Francisco Giants 4-3 as Jimmy Rollins singles in twelfth-MLB
The shortstop Jimmy Rollins singles in the twelfth while helping the Philadelphia Phillies win 4-3 in a nail-biter against the San Francisco Giants on July 22, 2012 at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the last game of the three match series.
The end of the ninth had seen the score tied. Thus, the winner was to be decided in additional innings. As both the tenth and the eleventh did not produce result, the match entered into an interesting phase.
A kind of situation had developed where it is more a matter of restraining nerves and maintaining focus than anything like putting in a better performance for winning the game.
Fortunately for Phillies, their batters did not succumb to the pressure as they helped them record an amazing victory in the end.
It was a low scoring game with starting pitchers from both sides throwing incredible spell of innings.
For the Phillies, Joe Blanton started and completed eight innings. He struck-out six while giving up three runs. Other than the two home-runs that he allowed, Blanton did not let batters free their arms against his pitches.
Despite finishing bulk of the innings for Philadelphia, Blanton did not earn the win. It was credited to the relief pitcher Kyle Kendrick, who tossed a little more than two impeccable innings under pressure.
He threw them in a situation when the score was tied and that a little mistake will have cost the defeat.
Meanwhile, the Phillies can take a lot of positives from the game. For example, their relievers were not as prone to leaking runs as they have been for most part in the season.
However, issues with their offence remain. While they managed reasonable number of hits on Sunday, they struggled to convert them into scores.
Their two star sluggers Ryan Howard and Chase Utley had another quiet time on the plate. Howard missed four at-bats, whereas Utley struck just one hit in five at-bats.
After playing a major role in handing Phillies the triumph, Rollins looked extremely excited about the future of his team. He holds that since the pitchers and hitters stepped up on Sunday, the club can look forward to splendours in upcoming games.
"We have the horses now, we're getting back to full strength and the pitchers have been doing a good job," Rollins said.
This was the last game of the series. Some winning momentum can help the Phillies in many ways going into the next series.
They will be looking to keep it afloat and use it for building winning streaks from now onward.
Tags: