/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35949414/20140722_ajl_usa_131.JPG.0.jpg)
It took 14 innings, but the Phillies finally lost tonight's (last night's?) game.
It was another slowly paced game full of questionable starting pitching. The Phillies scored five runs off of Giants' starter Yusmeiro Petit in two bunches -- two in the first, and then three in the fifth. Chase Utley singled Ben Revere home in the first, followed by Marlon Byrd sacrificing Jimmy Rollins across home plate. In the fifth inning, Rollins hit a two-run home run and Byrd doubled to make it 5-3 with the Phillies on top.
Worth mentioning:
@ToddZolecki slight correction: it'd be .282 (11-for-39) counting his 2 AB's tonight.
— Bill Baer (@CrashburnAlley) July 23, 2014
After the Phillies pulled ahead in the fifth, I felt confident for the first time in awhile. If they could hold the lead, Jonathan Papelbon would close it out. But the Giants kept picking away at the lead. They scored a run in the seventh off none other than Ken Giles.
You have to admire young Ken Giles' reslience. He did not have his best stuff, but survives a 33-pitch seventh.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 23, 2014
You do indeed. The run Giles allowed in the seventh inning was just the second since his promotion on June 12. Two runs in 15 innings and 14 appearances. That's quite impressive.
And then, of course, Papelbon. He paid me back for having confidence in him by giving up his first home run of the season, and his first run since June 16. That home run was also just the third extra base hit Papelbon has given up in 2014. See, he's been so damn good lately it's hard to fault him for this slip-up. Plus, after he gave up that homer, he went back out and pitched a clean 10th inning. And that's great!
Papelbon will start the 10th. It's his first time pitching more than an inning since May 11, 2013.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) July 23, 2014
The score stayed knotted at 5 runs apiece for five innings. Then, the Manship landed. Jeff Manship vomited up four runs in the 14th inning, pretty much eliminating any hope for a Phillies win. The Phillies scored one final run on a Cody Asche groundout in the 14th, and while they had the chance to tie up the game, Domonic Brown grounded to first with two on to end the game.
Time of game: 5:46. It required 507 pitches to complete.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 23, 2014
It was a long game, they tried really hard, and they lost. That happens sometimes. I just wish they could have done it in less than five hours.
Fangraph of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Source: FanGraphs