Phillies Win 3-2 In 10th

In his first four at-bats, Travis Lee couldn`t hit the ball out of the infield.

He made up for it in his last trip to the plate, delivering a clutch shot that traveled farther than the other four hits combined.

Lee`s solo homer in the 10th inning carried the resurgent Philadelphia Phillies past the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 on Friday night.

Jimmy Rollins also homered for the first-place Phillies, who have won seven of nine since being swept at home by Atlanta in a three-game series that only temporarily dropped them out of the top spot in the NL East.

Lee was hitless in four at-bats, stranding six runners, before connecting off Mike Trombley (2-2). The drive, which traveled far over the 25-foot scoreboard in right, was his 13th of the season and second in four games against Baltimore.

"It was a 2-1 fastball and it didn`t feel like it did when you absolutely crush one. I didn`t know," he said. "I never hit a home run here, so I didn`t know what it takes to get over that wall.

"When I hit it, it was, `Please, please, please save that 0-for-4 and all those men left on base.` Now I can sleep tonight."

Trombley`s best pitch is a split-finger, which just so happens to give Lee fits.

"The split-finger was killing me all night," Lee said. "I couldn`t pick it up; I was swinging and missing. I was getting frustrated about it."

Fortunately for Lee, Trombley opted for a fastball.

"I tried to get it inside and it just ran over the plate," Trombley said. "Being a reliever, it comes with the territory. What are you going to do?"

Rheal Cormier (5-1) worked the ninth, and Jose Mesa got three outs for his 23rd save. Mesa is the first Phillies reliever since Mitch Williams in 1993 with more than 22 saves entering the All-Star break.

Melvin Mora and Mike Kinkade homered for the Orioles, who have lost four straight to fall seven games under .500 (39-46) for the third time this season.

"For whatever reason, we just haven`t gotten the big hit when we needed it these last four games," lamented Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove.

After failing to take advantage of several scoring opportunities, the Phillies finally broke through in the seventh. Marlon Anderson doubled, and Rollins homered to tie the score at 2 and chase Willis Roberts, who was seeking his second win in eight starts since May 24.

"Just one bad pitch," Roberts said. "It was supposed to be down, but it was up and in the middle of the plate."

Roberts could take consolation in performing better than in his last start against Philadelphia, when he yielded nine runs in three innings June 15.

Phillies starter Omar Daal, bidding for his 10th win, allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.

Philadelphia`s Eric Valent robbed Tony Batista of a homer with a leaping catch at the left-field wall to end the first inning, but Mora led off the second with a drive to left that landed two rows into the seats.

Three batters later, Kinkade hit one even deeper to left to put Baltimore up 2-0.

The Phillies, meanwhile, stranded eight over the first five innings. Lee grounded out with runners at the corners and two outs in the first, and Scott Rolen lined out and Lee struck out with runners on second and third in the third.

Philadelphia also wasted two walks in the fourth.

Daal performed an escape act of his own in the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs, the left-hander went to 3-0 on Mora before throwing three straight strikes to end the threat.

Game notes:
The two homers allowed by Daal matched a season high. ... Baltimore`s Cal Ripken extended his hitting streak to 11 games, and teammate Brian Roberts stretched his run to 12. ... Baltimore`s Jeff Conine had his string of 43 straight starts halted by a sore back. ... Phillies LHP Bruce Chen, who gave up seven runs in two innings Thursday, was optioned to Double-A Reading. RHP Cliff Politte was activated from the 60-day disabled list.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News