This one’s for Monty: Phillies 5, Cardinals 0

The Phillies took the field with heavy hearts on Wednesday afternoon, as the team mourned the passing of team Chairman David Montgomery.

Montgomery would have been proud of the team, as they turned in perhaps their best performance of the season in defeating the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 5-0.

The game was highlighted by a brilliant start by Jerad Eickhoff. One year ago, Eickhoff’s future appeared to be in doubt due to a nerve injury. At the start of the season, he was in Triple A, and any contribution he made to the major league team would be considered a bonus. But since replacing Nick Pivetta in the major league rotation, Eickhoff has been excellent, and Wednesday’s start was his best yet.

Eickhoff retired the first eight batters of the game, and thanks to a double play, he faced the minimum number of batters through three. Having only allowed one hit through seven innings, Eickhoff ran into some trouble in the eighth. But he was able to pitch his way out of trouble, putting the cap on a terrific outing.

The Phillies’ offense had a bit of trouble getting started, as they went quietly through the first four innings. In the fifth, Odubel Herrera got the scoring started with an RBI double. The Phillies added to that total thanks to an error by Cardinals’ third baseman Matt Carpenter.

The final three runs were driven in by Cesar Hernandez who had himself a big day and can officially be called “hot.”

I’m sure the clubhouse celebration will be subdued after this one, but the Phillies players can take solace knowing that they did their former chairman proud.