Halladay solid in home debut, Phils hold off Marlins
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Roy Halladay pitched eight solid innings in his home debut and Juan Castro collected two hits and drove in three runs, as Philadelphia survived a late bullpen meltdown to clip Florida, 8-6, in the opener of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.
Placido Polanco and Chase Utley each hit a solo home run for the Phillies, who have won six of their last seven and accumulated 53 runs over that span. Ryan Howard added two hits and knocked in a run and Carlos Ruiz contributed an RBI hit. Utley has five homers in his last four games.
Halladay (3-0) allowed eight hits and two runs with four strikeouts. Ryan Madson recorded the final two outs to pick up his third save.
"The run support has been a lot of fun," said Halladay. "Everyone contributes, everyone chips in. It makes it a heck of a lot easier. It's a lot of fun when you win games like that as a team."
Hanley Ramirez finished 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Marlins, who had won two in a row over Cincinnati coming in. Dan Uggla homered among his two hits and Brett Carroll added two hits and drove in a run.
Anibal Sanchez (0-1) was tagged for eight hits and five runs, and walked four over six full frames.
Down by six, Florida mounted a charge in the ninth inning. Facing David Herndon, Uggla and Cody Ross singled, and both runners moved up on a groundout. Carroll's nubber to third plated Uggla for an 8-3 game, then a double from Gaby Sanchez and a Cameron Maybin single brought home two more runs.
Madson got the call with men on the corners, and John Baker's fielder's choice ground ball scored Sanchez and cut the Marlins' deficit to 8-6. Ramirez followed with a solid single to left to put runners on first and second, then Jorge Cantu bounced into a fielder's choice to end the contest.
"You feel like you can always come back, especially in this ballpark, especially with our offense," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We just dug ourselves a pretty big hole to try to dig out of."
Cantu finished 1-for-5, and his MLB-record streak of 10 straight games to start a season with at least one hit and one RBI was snapped.
The Phils struck for three runs in the home first on RBI singles from Howard, Castro and Ruiz, the final two coming with the bases loaded. Sanchez worked out of the jam by fanning Halladay swinging with the sacks full.
Polanco drilled a one-out solo homer off the foul pole in left for a 4-0 game in the second, then Jayson Werth doubled to lead off the third, moved up on a groundout and scored on Castro's sacrifice fly.
Uggla's two-out solo shot in the fifth put the Marlins on the board.
Utley connected for his sixth homer of the season to begin the seventh, then Howard singled and Werth drove him home with a double for a 7-1 contest. After a walk to Raul Ibanez, Castro singled home Werth and the Phils led by seven.
Halladay struggled with his control in the eighth as periodic rains became heavier, allowing a pair of singles to Sanchez and Baker before a Ramirez double made it 8-2.
Game Notes
Halladay's ERA jumped to 1.13...Florida has dropped the first game of each of its first four series this season but have not lost those three previous series...The Marlins had won seven of nine games in Philadelphia in 2009...Ibanez, who walked twice, was the only Phillies starter including Halladay not to record a hit in the contest... Cantu had the longest RBI/hit streak since Mike Piazza went 15 in a row from June 14-July 2, 2000.
04/17 00:01:42 ET
