Despite dramatic late inning comeback, Phillies lose series opener vs. Giants, 5-4

By: Josh Liddick, Staff Writer

Final: Giants 5, Phillies 4  ❖  Attendance: 42,238

SAN FRANCISCO —

WP: Jake Peavy (4-6, 5.22 ERA)  ❖  LP: Elvis Araujo (1-1, 5.87 ERA)  ❖  SV: Santiago Casilla (17)

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

Game Summary

The Phillies headed to the Bay Area for the start of a three-game series against the red-hot San Francisco Giants. The Phillies are coming off of a win at the Minnesota Twins after snapping a nine-game losing streak.

In the bottom of the 1st, Phillies righty Zach Eflin pitched to Denard Span, who reached first base on a fielding error by Ryan Howard. Eflin was able to get two quick outs after that including a big called strikeout to Brandon Belt. However, with two outs, Brandon Crawford smacked a base hit that allowed Span to reach 3rd base. Angel Pagan legged out an infield single that scored Pagan to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

Eflin punched out six straight batters until allowing a two-out double by Brandon Belt in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Belt was unable to capitalize as the Giants left him stranded at second to end the inning.

Maikel Franco proved his critics wrong as he came through for the Phillies in a big way, hitting a long fly ball off the right field wall for a double in the top of the 4th. Ryan Howard then brought in Franco with a tight ground ball down the right field line into the corner with a double of his own. Phillies tied the game 1-1 on the RBI double by Howard.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, after the second fielding error of the game for Ryan Howard, Giants' pitcher Jake Peavy hit a ball off of the barehand of Eflin, which was picked up by Freddy Galvis who nabbed Peavy at first base for the spectacular play.

Coming off of the spectacular defensive play, Freddy Galvis found himself doubling to start the top of the 5th inning for the Phillies. Next, Peter Bourjos legged out an infield single that brought Galvis over to third base. Odubel Herrera then hit a sac-fly to left field to bring Galvis home to take a 2-1 lead.

Both the Phillies and the Giants lacked offense through the bottom of the fifth inning all the way to the bottom of the sixth inning, but Zach Eflin pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth to preserve the Phillies' 2-1 lead.

In the top of the 7th, Peter Bourjos hit a one-out triple off of the center field wall. Jimmy Paredes pinch hit for Eflin, but was struck out by Peavy. Odubel Herrera then hit a first-pitch ball to shallow center field for the final out of the inning. That play stranded Bourjos at third base.

The Giants would not be denied in the bottom of the seventh inning. A poor offensive start to the game turned into four runs to give them a breakthrough lead. Brandon Belt hit a one out, bases clearing double to give the Giants a 4-2 lead. Angel Pagan then singled after Herrera made an awkward dive, which allowed Belt to score from 3rd extend the lead to 5-2.

The Top of the 8th proved to be a game-changer for the Phillies. A two out single by Freddy Galvis allowed Maikel Franco to score to make the game a 5-3 Giants lead. That hit loaded the bases for Peter Bourjos. Giants reliever Cory Gearrin walked Bourjos to score Cameron Rupp. That play gave another run to the Phillies and once again made it a game late in the 8th inning.

In the Top of the 9th, the Phillies had one more chance to take advantage of the Giants bullpen. Maikel Franco walked, which was followed up by a Tommy Joseph single. A pitch by Giants closer Santiago Casilla hit Cameron Rupp inside. With the bases loaded, and a chance to blow the game open, Tyler Goeddel was the Phillies' last shot at overtaking the lead from San Francisco. Goeddel hit the ball to third baseman Ramiro Pena and thought he beat the throw over to Belt at first. After the Phillies challenged the play, the call was upheld, and the Giants locked up the 5-4 win.

The Phillies will look to take the second game of the series tomorrow night as they will attempt to build off of their strong offensive showing late in this game.

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Starting Pitchers

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At the Plate

Phillies

• 1 Freddy Galvis: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, .221 AVG
• 2 Peter Bourjos: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3B, .238 AVG
• 3 Maikel Franco: 2-4, 2 R, 1 BB, .239 AVG

Giants

• 1  Brandon Belt: 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, .305 AVG
• 2 Angel Pagan: 3-4, 2 RBI, .282 AVG

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Bullpen

Phillies

• Severino Gonzalez (7th): 0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 2.84 ERA
• Elvis Araujo(7th): 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 5.87 ERA
• Edubray Ramos(7th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, o R, o ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
• Hector Neris (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, o R, o ER, o BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 2.68 ERA

Giants

• Derek Law (8th): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 2.81 ERA
• Josh Osich (8th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.81 ERA
• Cory Gearrin (8th): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 2.20 ERA
• Javier Lopez (8th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, o ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.63 ERA
• Santiago Casilla (9th): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, o ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.43 ERA

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What's Next

• Saturday, June 25, 2016: at San Francisco Giants, 10:05 p.m.
• San Francisco - AT&T Park
• RHP Jeremy Hellickson (4-6, 4.41 ERA) vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner (8-3, 1.85 ERA)
• TV: CSN, MLB.TV(out of market only); Radio: 94 WIP

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