Gibson, Bohm lead Phillies past the Cardinals
ST. LOUIS » Kyle Gibson kept the ball in the park this time against St. Louis, Alec Bohm broke a scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies edged the Cardinals 1-0 Saturday.
Gibson, tagged for four straight home runs by St. Louis in the first inning at Citizens Bank Park in his previous start, combined with a pair of relievers on a two-hitter.
Gibson gave up two hits and walked none in seven innings.
“I tried to simplify things a little bit,” Gibson said. “I tried to not only pitch to my strengths but tried to do that a little bit more, exploit some weaknesses when they’re there and when we can take advantage of them. But for the most part tried to focus in on the approach a little bit, simplify it, and tried to use my stuff where it plays best.”
A week earlier in Philadelphia, Gibson allowed consecutive home runs by Nolan Arenado, Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez and Dylan Carlson. It was the first time in major league history a team homered four straight times in the first inning.
The Phillies have won three games in a row and
five of their last six.
“I think people feel like we’re settled in a little bit now,” Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said. “I think they have confidence they’re going to finish. They’re going to finish what they start, and that’s the way we’ve been playing lately.”
St. Louis has lost seven of nine.
“Pretty frustrating,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Our ability to score runs right now is not very good. You get a good
start out of Dak. You get an opportunity there at the end. It’s obviously frustrating.”
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson allowed two hits and two walks in six scoreless innings after not pitching beyond the fifth in each of his previous four starts.
“We’re a good team,” Hudson said. “I think it’s just a matter of time. We sit back and just stay within ourselves and continue to play the game. We’ve had games where if you can do it one game and you can hit a
homer, you can a double, a single, whatever, make a pitch, you can do it again. It’s just about remembering that and remembering this is the big leagues and adjustments, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Darick Hall led off the Phillies ninth with a double against Giovanny Gallegos (2-3). Pinch-runner Mickey Moniak became the first runner of the game to reach third base on Didi Gregorius’ bunt single and Bohm followed with his goahead fly.