Francoeur delivers in a pinch for Phillies
Franco homers as homestand ends with win
The Phillies got another late-inning home run from Maikel Franco Sunday. This time he didn’t have to worry about it saving their bacon. Jeff Francoeur beat him to the bacon-saving.
It was Francoeur’s tworun, pinch-hit double in the bottom of the seventh that rescued both Ryne Sandberg from the scrutiny of not having Darin Ruf bunt earlier in the inning, and Ruf for grounding into what could’ve been an inning-killing double play. Franco’s solo bomb in the bottom of the eighth offered a little insurance for Jonathan Papelbon as the Phillies (22-36) ended an overall depressing homestand with a 6-4 win over the Giants.
Francoeur’s double scored Freddy Galvis and Ben Revere, who drew a walk af- ter Ruf followed Galvis’ single and fortunate bunt hit by Cameron Rupp by not bunting the runners into scoring position, but swinging at the first pitch and grounding into a double play.
“He has been a guy who seems to be in that situation a lot where he has helped us to win games,” Ryne Sandberg said of Francoeur. “Whether it has been defense or swinging the bat, Francoeur has been
a veteran presence in those situations and done a good job.”
There are plenty of reasons why the Phillies are one of the worst teams in baseball, and entering the season the fact that Francoeur, who hasn’t had a quality big-league season since 2011, had made the roster was considered a shining example of how bad they would be. The truth is, Francoeur has been at least serviceable as a platoon outfielder in right field and probably a little better than that when you throw in the timeliness of his better moments.
“You never want to get swept. I thought we played really well today,” Francoeur said. “We were in a good situation, and Ben was going to stand on first and give me a chance to hit. I just got a good pitch. All the guys. Howie (Ryan Howard) had a couple of big knocks today … Franco had a line drive that got, what, five feet off the ground for a home run? That was pretty impressive. He’s a great player. You see him gaining confidence more and more Philadelphia Phillies’ Ben Revere, right, dives in to score the second run on the double by Jeff Francoeur as San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, left, waits for the ball as umpire Mark Wegner, center, keeps his eye on the plate during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Sunday, June 7, 2015, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 6-4.
every day, which is good to see.”
The Phils got some early runs for starter Sean O’Sullivan, as in the bottom
of the second Franco followed a Howard single with a double down the left-field line and Cody Asche golfed a low off-speed pitch to left
for a two-run single to put the Phils up, 2-1.
The Giants responded with two runs in the top of the third thanks to back-to-
back doubles by Joe Panik and Angel Pagan, then another botched double play thanks to Chase Utley’s persistent insistence on mak- ing 45-foot backhanded flips to second base, this time on a grounder by Brandon Belt with runners on the corners.
The Phils tied it in the bottom of the third when Odubel Herrera launched a solo homer to center, and from there O’Sullivan and Vogelsong settled in.
“Knowing that our bullpen was thin, I tried to keep my pitch count down as best as I could and go as far as I could,” said O’Sullivan. “You goal is to get through six at least so the bullpen doesn’t have to be used as much … I don’t want to go out there and give up a lead, but for our guys to answer back and tie it up, it gives me more motivation to put up zeroes and give our guys a chance to take the lead.”
In the bottom of the seventh, with Vogelsong still out there, Galvis led off with his first hit since May 26, a clean single that ended an 0-for-31 slump for the shortstop that had dropped his batting average more than 50 points. Vogelsong remained in the game until he walked Revere, at which time Bruce Bochy waved in southpaw Javier Lopez to face Herrera.
Sandberg countered with Francoeur, and the veteran made the move pay off.