Raul Ibanez shines as Philadelphia Phillies defeat Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 – MLB Update
Philadelphia Phillies’ left-fielder, Raul Ibanez was brilliant with the bat as he went 3-for-5 with an average of .247 and hit four RBIs including two home-runs in the Phillies’ 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
on July 31.
At the top of the first inning, the Pirates’ batters failed to connect the ball as Xavier Paul grounded out to pitcher, Garrett Jones grounded out to first base and Neil Walker struck-out swinging without taking any run. Similarly, the Phillies also struggled
with the bat as Jimmy Rollins reached towards second base on an infield single, at short-stop position Chase Utley popped out as Ryan Howard struck-out.
In the second inning, Ibanez hit a one-run homer (418 feet) towards centre-field to post the first run for the Phillies and gave them a 1-0 lead. The pitchers had a control in the third and fourth inning and did not give away even a single run.
Phillies’ starter, Vance Worley was little bit shaky as he allowed four earned runs with an ERA of 2.33 and threw his six innings by giving only one home-run. Worley surrendered four runs on seven hits and struck-out seven batters on his 99 pitches. In the
fifth inning, both the teams posted four runs collectively and the Phillies were leading 3-2.
During the fifth inning, Paul singled off left-field while Brandon Wood and Eric Fryer both posted two initial runs for the Pirates. On the other hand, Brian Schneider and Michael Martinez completed two runs to give the Phillies a competitive lead.
Pirates added two runs in the sixth inning to go-ahead with 4-3. Lyle Overbay struck a two-run homer (362 feet) to right-field and Walker contributed a leading run for the Pirates. In the seventh inning, the Pirates took a 5-3 lead when Fryer scored a single
run on the double-run hit of Jones towards right-centre.
The game was tied 5-5 during the eighth inning when Ibanez homered (388 feet) to left-centre and Hunter Pence posted a tie run for the Phillies. In the additional 10th inning of the game, Ibanez drove a double-run shot to deep right-field and
Pence broke the tie runs by taking one run.
With this nail-biting encounter, the Phillies swept the Pirates 3-0 in the three-game series played at Philadelphia.
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