Franco’s slam sends Phils to 5th straight win
PHILADELPHIA » Maikel Franco hit his second grand slam of the month, helping the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 7-4 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.
Franco connected off Wei-Yen Chen (2-1) in the third inning with a shot to left-center for a 4-2 lead. With two runners on, Odubel Herrera singled to load the bases. Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez held at third instead of trying to score.
Franco, who had three hits, made up for the conservative baserunning with his fourth homer of the season. He also hit a grand slamin a 5-4 loss to the New York Mets on April 12.
The Phillies won a game against the Mets, swept a three-game set against Atlanta and beat the Marlins in front of a solid crowd on $1 hot dog night for the modest winning streak.
Velasquez (1-2) went 6 1/3 innings in his longest outing of the season and struck out three while lowering his ERA to 6.33.
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Freddy Galvis hit a solo shot for the Phillies, and Michael Saunders added a two-run homer in the eighth.
Because of scheduled days off and a rainout, both teams played for the first time since Sunday. Minus the All-Star break, the Phillies hadn’t had consecutive days off during a season in three years, and they needed a couple of innings to knock off the rust.
Dee Gordon tripled off Velasquez on the first pitch of the game and later scored, and Martin Prado’s second homer of the year made it 2-0 in the third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: LHP Jeff Locke is getting closer to a rehab assignment as he recovers from left biceps tendinitis. Manager Don Mattingly said Locke has had no setbacks but was still “a few weeks away.”
Phillies: RHP Clay Buchholz may pitch again this season. Buchholz, a twotime All-Star, had surgery last week to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right forearm. He hopes to pitch again in September. In the final year of a contract that pays him $13.5 million this season, Buchholz is 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA in two starts with the Phillies.
“I definitely don’t feel like I’m done playing,” he said. “I’ve stayed healthy for the most part. This is the first issue that involved a surgery for me.”
Buchholz said he apologized to teammates and management for the injury that threw a wrench in the rotation.
“I was brought here for a reason,” he said. “I wanted to pitch. I wanted to be good.”