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Monday, Jun. 19 7:35pm ET
Lieberthal's homer sparks 4-run eighth | |||||
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GAME LOG
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Phillies waited and waited for Greg Maddux to exit the game, and then they rallied. Mike Lieberthal's three-run homer capped a four-run eighth inning and lifted Philadelphia to a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.
"We were lucky to get him out of there," said Lieberthal, who barely hooked a liner foul on the pitch before the homer. Mike Remlinger (2-2) relieved Maddux after a one-out walk to Ron Gant and allowed a base hit to Bobby Abreu and a game-tying RBI single to Scott Rolen. Rolen is 6-for-12 off Remlinger with three homers, but Atlanta manager Bobby Cox kept the left-hander in to face the third baseman even though right-hander Kerry Ligtenberg was warming up. Remlinger, however, retired Rolen on a pop out to end an eighth-inning, bases-loaded threat Sunday. "He showed (Sunday) he wanted to get me with a change-up," Rolen said. "You have to get a good pitch to hit." Lieberthal then drilled a 1-2 pitch into the left-field bullpen off Ligtenberg for his 11th homer. "We've had some big hits lately," Lieberthal said. "This gives us confidence. Against Maddux, it's huge." Maddux, off to his best start at 9-1 since going 12-1 in 1995 when he won his fourth straight Cy Young award, allowed two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out seven, walked three -- one intentional -- and hit a batter. "Maddux was dominating. He put on a clinic," Phillies manager Terry Francona said. Maddux, though, didn't think he pitched that well. "The other guy pitched a lot better," he said about Randy Wolf. "I really didn't have a lot going for me." Chris Brock (2-4) pitched a scoreless eighth and Jeff Brantley worked the ninth for his eighth save in as many chances. Maddux retired 14 in a row after a leadoff single by Doug Glanville and had all seven strikeouts in the first five innings. Quilvio Veras gave Atlanta a 2-0 lead in the sixth with his third homer, deep into the left-field seats off Wolf. Maddux escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh by getting Desi Relaford to pop out and pinch-hitter Kevin Jordan on a fly to center. Wolf allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked one. "In the decade of the '90s, Maddux was a master," Wolf said. "He was on tonight. We needed to get in his bullpen because he was in control." Gant's RBI infield single cut it to 2-1 in the sixth. Maddux hit Relaford to start the inning. Relaford moved to second on a sacrifice by Wolf and to third on a grounder. Gant was 9-for-66 against Maddux before beating out a bouncer to deep short. "I had some bad walks and I hit a guy," Maddux said. "You have to make leadoff guys work to get on and I didn't." Maddux said he ran out of gas by the time he walked Gant in the eighth. He threw 101 pitches. Atlanta took a 1-0 lead in the third when Wolf's pickoff attempt sailed over the head of first baseman Pat Burrell, allowing Fernando Lunar to score from third. Lunar led off with a double to left-center. After a one-out walk to Veras, Lunar moved to third on a fielder's choice by Andruw Jones before scoring on Wolf's errant step-off toss to first. "That was awful," Francona said. Maddux had three straight subpar outings before Monday, allowing 15 earned runs in his last three starts after giving up four earned runs in his previous five starts. Lunar, who made his major league debut May 9 as Maddux's personal catcher, had his first career three-hit game. He had five hits before Monday.
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RECAPS NY Yankees 22 Boston 1
Philadelphia 5
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