On a night when the tens of thousands of Phillies fans in Brazil were understandably distracted, the Phils carved out an improbable win against the San Diego Padres.
Jeremy Hellickson, making his first post-deadline trade-showcase start, was less than impressive for Philadelphia, allowing three runs in 6.2 innings. He struck out three but walked two and was tagged for six hits, including a home run by Alexei Ramirez. He also balked, without Bob Davidson at the park.
Cameron Rupp led the Phils’ offense, with both his 13th home run—a three run shot in the fourth—and 18th double, driving in four altogether. Four other Phillies got hits, including Aaron Altherr, Maikel Franco, Tommy Joseph and Hellickson, all of which were singles.
After Hellickson’s outing was finished, Edubray Ramos finished the seventh, Hector Neris allowed a run in the eighth, and Jeanmar Gomez finished off the ninth for his 28th save of the season. Raise your hand if, this past winter, you thought the Phillies would have gotten 28 saves all year, let alone by one dude in August. Now those of you who are lying put down your hands and the rest of you are space wizards from the future, so okay.
The Padres scratched out ten hits, but were unable to do much with them, stranding nine runners on base.
With the win, the Phils improve to 51-60, while San Diego drops to 47-62. Game two of this late night nonsense series is tomorrow night, when the Phils will send newcomer Jake Thompson to the mound for his Major League debut against the Dad’s Paul ‘Not Roger’ Clemens. Good night!
And enjoy the Olympics. I hear they’re going to be big.