Philly Loves Cliff Lee, Phillies Win
Lee wins his home debut with Phillies
Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 | Updated 4:00 PM EST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smile Philly -- we have Cliff Lee.
Cliff Lee pitched seven impressive innings in his home debut, Paul Bako hit a tie-breaking homer, Jimmy Rollins just missed out on a cycle and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies 3-1 Thursday.
Lee (2-0) allowed one run and six hits, striking out nine in his first start at Citizens Bank Park since the Phillies acquired him from Cleveland last week.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner was great again. He tossed a complete-game, four-hitter in a 5-1 win at San Francisco in his Phillies debut last Friday.
Lee, who went 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA in 22 starts for the Indians this season, won his fifth straight start dating to a loss at Detroit on July 10.
Mixing a sharp fastball with pinpoint accuracy on his off-speed pitches, Lee kept Colorado's hitters off balance and fanned at least one batter in every inning. He got a nice ovation from the sellout crowd when he came to the plate in the third.
The Phillies scored two runs to take a 3-1 lead in the fifth. Bako, the backup catcher, drove a 1-0 pitch into the seats in right-center to start the inning. It was his first homer since last June 9, when he connected twice for Cincinnati against Florida.
Rollins hit a one-out triple to right-center and scored when second baseman Clint Barmes threw wild to the plate after fielding Shane Victorino's bouncer.
J-Roll had three hits and scored two runs, falling a homer short of the cycle.
Aaron Cook (10-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. The right-hander had won seven straight since losing June 1.
Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless ninth for his 21st save.
The NL East-leading Phillies took two of three from the Rockies, who are in the thick of the wild-card chase.
And interesting rotation news. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said J.A. Happ isn't going to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC 10 Philadelphia
Posted Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 - 3:47 PM EST
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