Philadelphia Phillies go past Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 in nail-biter – MLB Update
Philadelphia Phillies tenth inning leadoff Luis Montanez hit a homer to give his side a 5-4 win against Pittsburgh Pirates at Bright House Networks in Clearwater, Florida during their Spring Training Grapefruit encounter on March 8, 2012.
In a nail biter, both sides went neck-to-neck until the ninth inning and only a slight fall in momentum in the 10th hurt the Pirates.
Cole Hamels was terrific and while he never allowed any hitter to free their arms, he went scoreless in the fourth inning. He has started to work things out well and mix up pitches as per hitters’ footwork. If he can take same momentum to regular season,
he can be a huge threat to opponents.
"My changeup is going really well," Hamels said. "It's my main pitch. It's the reason why I'm here. It's always been a pitch I can go to in any count."
Phillies’ four score lead was threatened in the sixth inning when Pirates’ offense took the attack to them, bridging deficit to only one and in turn leaving the match open. Josh Harrison, Casey McGehee and Rod Barajas played a major role in Pirates’ late
recovery as they all obtained valuable hits off right-hander Dave Bush.
What was going to be an easy win for Phillies ended up being close as in the eighth inning Pirates’ centre-fielder Starling Marte levelled the score by hitting a home-run.
"I was aware (of the streak), but I wasn't thinking about it," Marte said. "I just tried to connect and put the ball in play."
Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence and Ty Wigginton strengthened the Phillies’ offense by putting the side in a lead at the very beginning. Pence brought the first run of the game by benefiting from Wigginton's second inning double while going 2-for-3. Victorino
also entered equation in fifth inning, scoring a two run homer, his first in Spring Training and as a result substantiating the Phillies’ lead.
The win has boosted the Phillies’ position on the table taking their PCT to commendable .5. Even if they have ended on the winning side, many areas still seek improvement. Since training is all about finding weak-links and taking corrective actions, Phillies
will be looking for ways to keep their momentum up during Spring Training.
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