Pedro Martinez might have taken Jamie Moyer's rotation spot, but Tuesday night Moyer at least stole back the spotlight--and got a win in the bargain after turning in one of his best performances of 2009. In his first relief appearance since coming out of the rotation, Moyer replaced Martinez following a rain delay of more than an hour and, with the rain continuing to fall for most of the night, threw six scoreless innings to notch his 11th victory of the season.
Before the rain, Martinez rebounded from a shaky start--a home run by the Diamondbacks' Stephen Drew leading off the game--to impress the fans at Citizens Bank Park with three innings of work in which he allowed two hits and struck out three on 38 pitches, a far more economical pace than he set last week in his Phillies debut. But the Phils continued to trail 1-0, squandering a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the first, until play resumed for the bottom of the third. Chase Utley was hit by a Jon Garland pitch to lead off the inning, and scored on Jayson Werth's two-out double. After an intentional walk to Raul Ibanez, Pedro Feliz and Carlos Ruiz each hit run-scoring singles to put the Phils ahead 3-1. Werth and Ruiz each later added solo home runs, Ruiz finishing the night 3 for 3 with a walk and two RBI.
Moyer did the rest, recording as many hits himself (two) as he allowed over his six innings. In his first relief appearance since June 24, 2004 (when he came in to pitch the last three frames of an 18-inning game with the Mariners), he wound up striking out five--matching his total from the 6 2/3 scoreless frames he threw at Arizona on July 27. That he recorded 18 outs on just 69 pitches was tribute to the location that had been mostly missing through his final turns in the rotation.
The series continues Wednesday with a marquee pitching matchup: Arizona's Danny Haren versus Cliff Lee of the Phillies.