Whacko for Franco: Phillies 6, Diamondbacks 0

Cataclysm dotted the baseball landscape all afternoon. Shelby Miller was twirling a no-hitter against the Marlins for over eight innings, Carlos Gomez got brained with a heater going 97 mph and left the Brewers game, Mike Redmond was fired by the Marlins, and the Phillies' own David Buchanan caught his cleat in the grass during an IronPigs game and got carted off the field.

But here in Philadelphia, the Phillies' attempt at sweeping the Diamondbacks went actually pretty well. With four starters sitting and a career spot starter filling a permanent rotation role by necessity, hopes were not any lower than usual - their tepid default state. However, Sean O'Sullivan was the least of the Phillies' problems on the afternoon, throwing six shutout innings with the most troublesome ball being one thrown by his own catcher.

Yes, barring a brief throat injury, O'Sullivan had his most successful start ever; he made the correct pitches, induced some clutch double plays when they were most needed, and had an incorrect call reversed that maintained the shut-out. It was against the punchless Diamondbacks, yes, but if you're trying to collect some good stats, Arizona is a team you have to shut down. And O'Sullivan did.

Helping him was the offense, which managed to knock a few runs across. Starting in the second inning, Cameron Rupp used a sac fly to bring in Cesar Hernandez, and two innings later, Darin Ruf slugged a solo shot. Gradually, the Phillies built a small lead while O'Sullivan held the Snakes at bay. The sixth was a banner inning for the young folk as Ruf, on first with a single, was tripled in by Maikel Franco's first big league three-bagger. Franco trotted home on a subsequent Cesar Hernandez double.

With the score 4-0, O'Sullivan Irish goodbye'd the pitchers mound and Luis Garcia took over, aided by supplemental runs, including Maikel Franco's first ever big league home run off a high breaking pitch.

The Phillies capped it at 6-0, with the bullpen able to keep a lid on the paltry Arizona offense, and though at one point Jonathan Papelbon was warming up for an emergency appearance, he never made it through the gate (thanks partially to a diving stop from Franco that maintained the shut out).

Source: FanGraphs

OTHER NOTES

• Ryan Howard made an appearance in the seventh as a pinch hitter, popping a two-strike single up the middle with a quick swing on a low and outside pitch. My dude's hitting .244.
• Double digit hits again!
• More than five runs again!
• The Phillies head to Colorado now, where they will NOT face Kyle Kendrick. Mrmmm.
• Chad Billingsley went to the 15-day DL just after this game completed.