 |
| Freddy Galvis drove in three runs to lead the Phillies to a 4-3 win over the Indians. |
"When he hits a home run I get a little nervous," manager Pete Mackanin said. "He has enough power to hit 10 home runs, but we feel when he does he gets a bit away from his game plan and starts over swinging."
Thankfully for the Phillies, Galvis didn't let his homer in the first alter his approach at the plate.
David Lough opened the seventh with a pinch-hit single and advanced on a Peter Bourjos sacrifice. Galvis then drove him home with his bloop single down the right-field line.
"I simply try and keep the ball down on the ground," Galvis said. "That's my goal."
Odubel Herrera collected two hits in the winning effort, extending his streak of reaching base safely to a career-best 21 games.
Jerad Eickhoff persevered through six innings, but not before stumbling a bit in the fifth. Tyler Naquin opened the frame with a lead-off triple and three other players chipped in with singles to eventually tie the game at 3-3. Eickhoff settled down in the sixth, retiring the side in order to close out his night.
"That fifth inning, they adjusted to me getting ahead," Eickhoff said. "They adjusted to me before I could adjust to them and I was working through that a bit, but it was big to get through the sixth."
Eickhoff didn't walk a batter and collected four strikeouts.
"He wasn't at his best, but he put together a quality start," Mackanin said. "His velocity was down a bit and he was up in the zone. He really battled."
The Indians threatened in the ninth with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with two outs, but Bourjos made an outstanding catch on a Jason Kipnis bullet to right to secure the win.
"I don't think there's many players that can make that catch," Mackanin said.
"I broke on it and I froze just to make sure it wasn't a top spin that would fall in front of me," Bourjos added. "A couple steps into it I knew I had a pretty good bead on it."
Having won five straight, the Phillies are four games over the .500 mark for the first time since the end of the 2011 season.
"It’s a good feeling, especially after the 0-4 start and coming off last year,” Mackanin said. “We figured that our pitching was going to be better, but after the first four games it didn’t look like it. But everyone settled into place. Sure, it’s a great feeling – winning games and having a winning record. We’re on a roll right now, I’m hoping we can continue into St. Louis after we leave here tomorrow.”
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PGordonPBR
