READING, Pa. – The Phillies had the bases loaded with two out in the 11th, looking for something, anything from Michael Spidale.
They certainly weren’t looking for a routine ground ball to third, but that’s what Spidale managed off tough right-hander Daniel Farquhar.
With Michael Taylor on third, the result of his career-high fifth hit of the game to start the inning, you could say the ball was Taylor made after New Hampshire Fisher Cats third baseman Al Quintana kicked it, allowing the winning run to score in a comebacking 8-7 decision Friday night before 8,191.
All Taylor did was go 5-for-6 to jack his batting average to .342. He hit four balls hard, including his ninth home run, which accounted for four RBIs. But it was his seeing-eye single through the left side in the 11th that might have been as impressive. Facing Farquhar, a side-armer who is tough on right-handed hitters, Taylor got enough of one of his deliveries to start the winning rally.
Kevin Mahar worked a walk, Neil Sellers moved up both runners with a groundout to the right side andGus Milner was walked intentionally. One out later the Phillies (26-20) were the ones slapping celebratory hands.
The Fisher Cats had scored five runs in a bat-around first inning that included six hits and an error and featured 32 pitches from Tyson Brummett.
Brummett, to his credit, kept his team in the game when he put together five scoreless, one-hit innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter in his six innings of work.
The Phillies clawed back into it, cutting the lead to a run through six innings. They scored two in the first on an RBI single by Taylor and a double-play grounder.
It became 5-3 in the fourth on Spidale’s homer to left, though the inning ended with the bases loaded.
A Mahar triple and a Sellers sac fly in the fifth had the home team right back in it.
The Cats (24-25) scored a pair of runs off Pat Overholt in the seventh to open a three-run lead, Quintana hitting the first pitch of the inning for his third home run.
Taylor’s bomb in the seventh cut the lead to 7-5. His two-out, two-run single in the eighth tied it.
The win went to Chance Chapman (2-0), who followed up Jason Anderson’s two innings of scoreless work, with a perfect 11th that included two strikeouts. Farquhar (0-1) got the loss.
PHILLERS: Gus Milner’s inside-the-park homer Wednesday at Akron was the first struck by a Phillie since Peter Bergeron did it July 10, 2006, also in Akron. . . . Milner’s fourth-inning single extended his hitting streak to six games. . . . The Phillies were coming off a 6-2 road trip. . . . Michael Taylor lost a 14-game hitting streak Wednesday during which he batted .407 (22-for-54) with four doubles, a triple and five home runs while scoring 10 runs and knocking in 18 . . . Quintin Berry went 3-for-5 Friday and scored twice.
PLAYER MOVES: Veteran catcher Paul Bako was added to the roster from extended spring training. He played 99 games for the Reds last season, batting .217 with six home runs and 35 RBIs. He also has played for Detroit, Houston, Florida, Atlanta, Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City and Baltimore. Bako, 36, began his major league career in 1998 with the Tigers. He took the roster spot vacated by infielder Carlos Leon, who went on the disabled list with a strained right groin.
This story was posted on May 29, 2009 on the official Reading Phils website
