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The Phillies gave it a run, but were unable to hold off the Giants at the end. Zach Eflin pitched six strong innings, allowing an unearned run on five hits and two errors with a single strikeout; he left the game with a lead, but the bullpen was outdone. Unsurprisingly.
The Phils scored single runs in the fourth (a Ryan Howard RBI double) and fifth (an Odubel Herrera sac bat flip), taking a 2-1 lead on the Giants.
Because you don't see it every day: Odubel Herrera's bat flip on a sac fly in the fifth. pic.twitter.com/qx34enuz1T
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) June 25, 2016
After Eflin was done, the Rice-a-Ronis tagged the bullpen for four runs in the seventh. Severino Gonzalez allowed a single to Trevor Brown, and was immediately relieved. Elvis Araujo allowed a single to Buster Posey, a walk to Joe Panik, a three-run double to Brandon Belt and a RBI single to The Contradictorily Named Pagan.
5-2.
The Phils got two runs back in the eighth, with Freddy Galvis driving in Maikel Franco and Peter Bourjos drawing a bases-loaded walk to score Cameron Rupp. Before this, though, Tyler Goeddel drew a walk off Cory Gearrin. Except the walk will be credited to Josh Osich, as Osich was the pitcher of record when Goeddel's at-bat started, being pulled with a 2-1 count. Why you would do this, I have no idea, but then, I'm not a Hall of Fame manager.
Speaking of Galvis, then, he pulled off a brilliant play on a chopper deflected off Eflin's hand, changing directions to nail Peavy at first.
THIS is how you baseball, Freddy. Wooooof. He's never going to win awards with his bat, but as long as he continues to flash leather like that, he'll have a role in the Major Leagues.
In the ninth, finally, the Phils put together a solid attempt at a late rally. With two outs, Franco drew a walk and former San Fran farmhand Tommy Joseph singled up the middle; before Rupp was hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded, Goeddel nearly reached on an infield single, but the out call was upheld on replay, ending the game.
Postgame, the fans were treated to a Prince-themed fireworks night. Meanwhile, knowing that nobody was listening, the broadcasters had fun with this on their Friday night roundtable. Ben Davis does Pilates but is good at golf, apparently. He can also count.The Phillies gave it a ride, but on Prince Night in San Francisco, the Giants were intolerably good. Damn them.
With the loss, the Phils drop to 31-44, while the Giants improve to 48-27. Game two of this series is tomorrow night, at 10:05 Eastern, with the Phillies sending Jeremy Hellickson to the hill against Madison Bumgarner.