Making his home debut for the Phillies, Cliff Lee wowed the hometown crowd by pitching seven strong innings, allowing just one run on six hits, walking only one while striking out nine.
Lee allowed a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Todd Helton, scoring Rockies' center fielder Dexter Fowler, who led off the game with a double to shallow left. That would be the only extra base hit allowed by Lee in the game, and was the first of just two Rockies to ever touch second base all game.
It was another impressive outing by the fast working Lee, who shows an impressive command for a pitcher who started his career by walking an inordinate amount of hitters. In 16 innings pitched for the Phillies, Lee has allowed just two runs on 10 hits, walking just three batters. Lee is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA as a member of the Phillies.
Lee was not the recipient of the kind of run support enjoyed by teammate J.A. Happ
during his complete game shutout Wednesday night, but the three runs
scored by the Phillies was enough for the reigning AL Cy-Young winner.
Lee was bouyed by quick innings from Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge, who picked up his 21st save of the year, and seventh in a row since returning from the disabled list.
The Phillies mustered three runs in support of Lee, which turned out to be more than enough for the crafty lefthander. They started things off in the home-half of the first the same way the Rockies did. Jimmy Rollins, who was a homerun shy of the cycle, started things off with a double to shallow left. Shane Victorino moved Rollins over to third with a groundout to second, followed up by a sacrifice fly to deep center by Chase Utley.
The Phillies would strike again in the fifth off a Paul Bako homerun. Rollins would score later that inning on a fielder's choice.
The victory gives the Phillies the win in the series against the Rockies, who led the Wild Card race coming into Monday's game. The Phillies will start a weekend series on Friday against the Florida Marlins, who are also in contention for the NL Wild Card.
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
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