Ryan Howard Grand Slam Leads Phillies To Win As Team Honors Jim Thome
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ryan Howard hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to help Jake Thompson earn his first major league victory and lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 10-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
Howard finished with three hits and Cesar Hernandez, Cameron Rupp and Aaron Altherr added two each for Philadelphia, which opened a nine-game homestand by winning its second straight.
Charlie Blackmon hit three solo home runs and D.J. LeMahieu also went deep for the Rockies, who entered play 4½ games out of the wild card.
Thompson (1-1) earned his first win in his second career start after allowing three runs and two hits with six strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
He accomplished a rare feat when he recorded four strikeouts in one inning, becoming the first Phillies pitcher to have four strikeouts in one inning since Doc White did it against Brooklyn in the fifth inning on July 21, 1902.
Thompson opened the second inning by striking out David Dahl, but Dahl reached first on a wild pitch. Dahl went to third on Gerardo Parra's single and scored on Nick Hundley's grounder to first on a play that Howard was charged with a throwing error.
The 22-year-old right-hander, whom the Phillies acquired last season from Texas in the trade that sent ace left-hander Cole Hamels to the Rangers, responded by striking out Ben Paulsen, Daniel Descalso and Jon Gray for four strikeouts in one inning.
Howard extended his franchise record with his 14th grand slam, launching a 1-0 pitch from Gray (8-6) into the Rockies bullpen in right-center field to break a 3-3 tie. The veteran slugger, who received a curtain call after the hit, tied Rocky Colavito for 76th place all-time in major league history with his 374th homer.
Gray left after Howard's home run, having surrendered seven runs — six earned — and six hits with six strikeouts and four walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Philadelphia took a 3-1 lead. Odubel Herrera's RBI single in the first put Philadelphia on the board and the Phillies took advantage of Colorado's sloppy play in the second when Freddy Galvis scored on Parra's throwing error on Peter Bourjos' double. Bourjos eventually scored on a wild pitch.
The Rockies got a run back in the third on the first of Blackmon's three homers, this one off the second deck in right field, and tied it in the fifth on Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly.
Blackmon hit a one-out opposite-field homer to left in the seventh for his 17th homer of the season. He has five career multi-homer games, including three this season.
He went deep again in the ninth with two outs for his first career three-homer game.
Dahl went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts to snap his hitting streak to start his career at 17 games. Dahl was vying to become the first player in history to begin his career with a hit in 18 straight games. On Thursday, he tied the record of 17 set by Cincinnati's Chuck Aleno in 1941.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rockies: Colorado placed 1B Mark Reynolds on the 15-day DL with a broken left hamate bone. Reynolds was injured swinging the bat during Thursday's 12-9 win over Texas. He is batting .283 with 23 doubles, 12 homers and 50 RBIs in 106 games this season. . OF Carlos Gonzalez (left ankle sprain) didn't play.
Phillies: Bourjos (right shoulder) returned from the DL and went 1 for 3.
UP NEXT
The teams play the middle game of the three-game set on Saturday night with Colorado LHP Tyler Anderson (4-3, 3.04) opposing RHP Jerad Eickhoff (7-12, 3.78).
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