Hector Neris and Phillies beat Yankees
Hector Neris shut down a potent Yankees lineup to notch a four-out save to preserve a 5-4 victory for the Phillies on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park.

The win secured a series split with a Yankees club considered to be one of the best in baseball.

"When you look at what our bullpen did tonight, they gave us five strong innings against arguably the best lineup in baseball," Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. "Just an outstanding job."

Zach Eflin worked four innings in his season debut, surrendering two unearned runs on four hits. He struck out five. The two runs scored in the second following an error by Scott Kingery at second base.

“I’m at my best when I’m at the bottom of the zone,” Eflin said. “I’m forcing early contact. I’m getting weak contact. It’s really refreshing to kind of go back to square one and see how good square one can be.”

Aaron Judge came to the plate as a pinch-hitter representing the go-ahead run in the eighth with two outs and the Phils ahead by a run. Five pitches later, Judge was walking back to the dugout after swinging over a slider.

“Well, you know how dangerous he is,” Girardi said of Judge. “That’s a dangerous at-bat for any pitcher, because if you make a mistake, he can hit it out of any ballpark anywhere. And Héctor was fantastic.”

J.T. Realmuto led the Phils at the plate, finishing the night 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Andrew McCutchen chipped in with two hits and local product Phil Gosselin doubled in two runs in the third to give the Phils a 5-2 lead.

The win improved the Phils to 3-4 on the season as the club welcomes the Braves for a four-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
__________________________________
Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PGordonPBR

BY PATRICK GORDON
Managing Editor
pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post