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Sports
By Rob Silverstein The Padres handed the Phillies their first loss of the season on Sunday in a 7-4 nail-biter that featured great pitching, fine all-around play and the first ball hit out of J.J. Walker field in the Majors B division this season. The Phillies struck first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning on successive singles by Rumor Dowling, Alex Schwartz and Matt Phillips off of Padres starting pitcher, Steven Iglehart. The Padres answered in the top of the second with a six-run rally. Henry Dinhofer started things off with a single to left, followed by a single by Andrew Cook and walks to Erica Silverstein and Gabe Warshaw. With the bases loaded, hard-hitting first baseman, Mark Pajerski, drove in two runs with a single to deep right. Jake Friedman then sacrificed a run in with a solid ground ball to second that set the stage for Cody Stephens. With one out and runners on second and third Stephens crushed a first-pitch fastball over the centerfield fence for a three-run homer. Stephens was four-for-four on the day with a single and two doubles to go along with his homer. After six games he is 18-for-22, hitting a torrid .818. Igelhart held the Phillies scoreless in the second and held them to two runs in the third on a walk to Dowling, a single by Schwartz and successive ground balls by Phillips and Ari Fleischer. Dinhofer came in to pitch for the Padres in the bottom of the fourth and held the hard-hitting Phillies scoreless over the last three innings collecting five strikeouts and allowing only two hits, a single to James Norman and a single to Drew Wilson. Dinhofer was helped by some great defensive plays including shoestring catches by Cody Stephens in centerfield and by Daniel Stephens in left. Padres shortstop Gabe Warshaw and first baseman Pajerski also turned in a sparkling defensive effort. Phillips pitched well for the Phillies going five strong innings and holding the Padres to just one run after the second inning. Majors B roundup Despite the loss, the Phillies (5-1) maintained a one-game lead over the Marlins and Padres who are tied for second place. The Marlins beat the Padres on Saturday 10-7 behind the complete-game pitching performance of James Blum. Blum held the Padres to only four runs over the first five innings. The Padres took a 4-3 lead into to the top of the sixth largely thanks to the outstanding pitching performance by Richard Nelson-Chow. But the explosive Marlins struck for seven runs in the top of the sixth. The big blows were a triple by Blum, singles by Sam Shapiro and Edward Kahn, and doubles by Casey Gorevan and Blum again as the Marlins batted around. The defensive play of the game was made by Marlins right fielder Pace Lee. With the bases loaded and two outs, Pajerski of the Padres hit a line-drive smash deep down the right-field line. Lee sprinted to his left and made what could have been the game-saving catch to end the Padres’ threat. In other Majors B action, The Pirates beat the Expos on Saturday, 13 to 8. All Pirates players had at least one hit. Trevor Cox had two key singles, driving in four Pirate runs. Until the sixth inning, the Expos’ bats were held in check by the Pirates’ starting pitcher, Alex Lowy (who went one-and-a-third innings), and by Clark Slater (who went the rest of the way). In the sixth, the Expos’ bats came alive for a six-run rally. William Viera pitched five strong innings for the Expos picking up nine strikeouts along the way. Viera also went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI’s. Also getting key hits in the Expos’ sixth-inning rally were Quinn Hood and Pascal Donovan. On Sunday, the Expos picked up a big win against the second-place Marlins. The Expos bats stayed hot from their final inning on Saturday, as they scored 10 runs in the first two innings. The Expos made their early lead hold up, beating the Marlins 13-8. Elliot Phillips went the distance for the Expos and is developing into one of the Expos’ best pitchers. Phillips also collected two doubles and scored two runs to help his own cause. Jolexis Joramillo (known as J.J.) had a big day at the plate with three hits and scoring three runs, and Viera continued his weekend tear with two hits (including a double) scoring twice. On defense, Expo centerfielder Hood made two fine catches and threw a runner out at home plate to end a Marlins rally. On Friday, the Phillies edged the Pirates 4 to 1 in an extremely well-played game by both teams. |
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