Phillies defeat Indians in extras on Ryan Howard’s 6th career walk-off home run

By: Matt Rappa, managing editor

Final: Phillies 4, Indians 3  ❖  Attendance: 18,677

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies (13-10) have won their fourth consecutive game, thanks to an 11th inning walk-off home run by first baseman Ryan Howard, the sixth of his 13-year career and his first since May 28, 2014.

In defeating the Cleveland Indians (10-10), the Phillies have now won seven of their last eight games and each of their three extra-inning games this season. They are three games over the .500 mark for the first time since Sept. 21, 2012.

Making his season debut, left-hander Adam Morgan received a no-decision after tossing five innings of three-run baseball. The Phillies bullpen combined for six shutout innings on one hit, two walks and 11 strikeouts in the victory.

WP: David Hernandez (1-1, 3.97 ERA)  ❖  LP: Cody Allen (0-3, 6.97 ERA)


Hub:   Game Summary      Starting Pitchers     At the Plate      Bullpen      What's Next



Game Summary

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
CLE 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1
PHI
0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 10 0

A 26-inning scoreless streak by the Phillies pitching staff came to an end in the top of the fifth.

The Indians put together a three-run, two-out rally that began with a double by opposing starting pitcher Corey Kluber the first of his career. The next batter, 11-year veteran center fielder Rajai Davis, hit a RBI-single to center field, followed by two-run home run by second baseman Jason Kipnis to put the Indians up 3-0.

Kluber's extra-base hit was the first for an Indians pitcher since left-hander C.C. Sabathia homered off of former Phillies RHP Chan Ho Park on June 21, 2008, at Dodger Stadium.

The Phillies answered back strongly in the latter-half of the inning. They had just one baserunner up to that point in the contest: a leadoff single by Howard in the bottom of the second. Howard reached base again to begin the bottom of the fifth, this time with a double, his first of the season.

Catcher Carlos Ruiz followed with a double of his own his second of 2016 to score Howard and cut the deficit to two. After second baseman Cesar Hernandez reached on fielding error to put runners on the corners and nobody out, left fielder David Lough brought home the runner in scoring position on a RBI single.

With runners on the corners again, pinch-hitter Darin Ruf grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, which allowed Hernandez to score from third and tie the game at three.

Morgan's season debut would conclude with five innings of three-run baseball. He struck out a career-high seven batters, throwing 97 total pitches with 63 of them being strikes.

Voorhees, New Jersey, native RHP Andrew Bailey entered in relief of Morgan in the sixth, his second appearance of the season. Bailey struck out the side on just 11 pitches. Center fielder Odubel Herrera singled to begin the next half-inning, extending his hitting and on-base streak to 10 and 20, respectively.

Bailey threw a scoreless seventh inning and picked up another strikeout to raise his season total to six over four innings. Left-hander Elvis Araujo and right-hander Hector Neris preserved the 3-3 tie in the top of the eighth on 15 combined pitches.  Neris struck out opposing first baseman Mike Napoli on four straight splitters for the final out.

Indians reliever Bryan Shaw entered in relief of Kluber to start the bottom of the eighth. Spanning seven innings and 90 pitches, Kluber allowed three runs, two earned, on just five hits. Herrera hit a two-out infield single to raise his batting average to .303, however he was picked-off at first for the final out.

Neris struck out two batters in the ninth and three of the four he faced overall in his outing.

The Phillies' seventh hit of the evening came via a one-out single to right field by third baseman Maikel Franco. Two batters later, Ruiz was intentionally walked to put two runners on for pinch-hitter Emmanuel Burriss. The seven-year veteran would go on to fly out to left field, lowering his batting average on the season to .050 (1-20).

The game would head to extra innings the Phillies' third such game of the season.

The Phillies began the bottom of the 10th in opposition of right-hander Jeff Manship, who was 1-2 with a 6.65 ERA in 20 appearances with the club in 2014. Two batters after Lough singled for his second hit of the night in four at-bats, right fielder Peter Bourjos hit his fifth double of the season.

Herrera was then intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. This was the center fielder's 23rd walk of the season in as many games. The Phillies did not capitalize on the opportunity, however. Indians closer Cody Allen retired the next two Phillies batters shortstop Freddy Galvis (strikeout) and Franco (fielder's choice) sending the game to the 11th inning.

Right-hander David Hernandez threw two scoreless frames in the 10th and 11th innings. He struck out the side in the 10th, and the final batter in the top of the 11th, Napoli. Over his past four appearances, the 30-year-old has struck out 12 batters in six combined innings.

Howard came up clutch at the start of the bottom of the 11th, sending his fifth home run of the season over the right field wall to secure the walk-off victory.

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Starting Pitchers

  IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Corey Kluber 7.0 5 3 2 0 6 0 4.24
Adam Morgan 5.0 5 3 3 1 7 1 5.40

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At the Plate

Indians

  • Jason Kipnis: 1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, .275 AVG
  • Marlon Byrd: 1-4, 2B, .269 AVG
  • Corey Kluber: 1-2, R, 2B, .500 AVG

Phillies

  • Odubel Herrera: 2-4, BB, .303 AVG
  • Ryan Howard: 3-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, .214 AVG
  • Carlos Ruiz: 1-3, R, 2B, RBI, BB, .297 AVG

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Bullpen

Indians

  • Bryan Shaw (8th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 9.64 ERA
  • Zach McAllister (9th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.93 ERA
  • Jeff Manship (10th): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
  • Cody Allen (10th, 11th): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 6.97 ERA

Phillies

  • Andrew Bailey (6th, 7th): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
  • Elvis Araujo (8th): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 2.08 ERA
  • Hector Neris (8th, 9th): 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 0.63 ERA
  • David Hernandez (10th, 11th): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR, 3.97 ERA

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What's Next

  • Saturday, April 30, 2016: vs. Cleveland Indians, 7:05 p.m.
    • Citizens Bank Park
    • RHP Trevor Bauer (1-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. RHP Jerad Eickhoff (1-3, 4.07 ERA)
    • TV: CSN; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP

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