Delwyn Young homered leading off the game. That was the highlight of the night for Pittsburgh and it wasn’t nearly enough.
Ryan Howard hit an 8th inning grand slam to cap a 12 run scoring barrage for the Phillies. Howard’s two run single in the third broke a two run tie. Later in the inning Jayson Werth hit a three run homer, putting the game out of reach. Werth later added an RBI double, giving him four RBI to go along with Howard’s six.
The early damage was done against Charlie Morton who reverted to his early season form. He gave ups six hits and six runs in four innings. Jack Taschner was victimized by Howard’s blast. In between those two, Jeff Karstens gave up two runs in 2-1/3.
Being blessed by mucho run support was Kyle Kendrick and he pitched well. He gave up just five hits and one walk while allowing two runs in eight innings.
The Good
Young, starting at second base, drove in both Pirate runs.
Ryan Doumit had two singles.
The Bad
Morton’s results were less than stellar.
An Andrew McCutchen error led to an unearned run.
The Rest
Jimmy Rollins was back for the first time in about a month after having suffered a calf injury. Juan Castro and Wilson Valdez filled in fairly well while he was out.
The last time Howard had more than five RBI was a seven RBI game on 6-20-06. This was Howard’s ninth career grand salami.
Kendrick is 3-0 in three career starts against Pittsburgh.
Aki Iwamura was 0-1 as a pinch hitter. Andy LaRoche was 0-4 hitting out of the two-hole.
