Philadelphia, PA (Best E Casino) - Jayson Werth's game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning gave the
Philadelphia Phillies a 6-5 victory over the
Arizona Diamondbacks in a back-and-forth opener of a three-game series.
Werth finished with three hits and stepped to the plate with a pair of runners on in his final at-bat. Connor Robertson, in his second inning of relief, threw a 2-2 slider to the outside part of the plate, and Werth went out and poked it past Orlando Hudson at second. So Taguchi, who opened the frame with a single, raced around from second to score without a play at the plate.
Shane Victorino was 3-for-6 and finished a home run short of the cycle, driving in a pair of runs for the Phillies, who have won three in a row coming off a four-game slide. Ryan Howard continued his torrid July by clubbing his league-leading 28th home run.
Rudy Seanez (4-3) took the win with a perfect 12th inning, as he and five other relievers followed Kyle Kendrick's 6 1/3 innings of work, in which he allowed four runs on nine hits.
Miguel Montero had a three-hit night for Arizona, while Emilio Bonifacio recorded a pinch-hit, two-run double. Hudson, Stephen Drew, Chad Tracy and Alex Romero each had a pair of hits in defeat.
Robertson (0-1) was credited with the loss, while Doug Davis took a no- decision in his six-inning start. Davis gave up three runs on five hits and four walks to go with four strikeouts for Arizona, which had won three of four.
Howard has been on a tear over the past two weeks, belting nine home runs and driving in 19 runs during his career-high-tying 14-game hitting streak. His leadoff home run in the second cleared the left field wall for a 1-0 Philly advantage.
Davis remained in the game after taking a line drive off his left knee several hitters later, and got out of a bases-loaded jam by getting Jimmy Rollins to fly out weakly to right.
Kendrick used his pinpoint control to keep the Diamondbacks off-balance and off the scoreboard through five innings.
But in the sixth, Hudson smacked a one-out base hit up the middle, stole second and moved up another 90 feet on Conor Jackson's groundout. Tracy brought Hudson home when he poked a humpback liner that caught the left field line, and the game was tied, 1-1.
A two-out walk to Pedro Feliz put Davis in trouble in the bottom half. Victorino doubled into the right field gap to put a pair in scoring position, and Davis uncorked a wild pitch after getting ahead in the count to Carlos Ruiz. Montero blocked the errant throw, but couldn't pick up its location and Feliz scored standing up.
Davis then intentionally walked Ruiz, who executed a successful double-steal with Victorino, as Ruiz got caught in a rundown long enough for the speedy Hawaiian to score.
The D'Backs didn't quit, however, as a single and double to start the seventh was followed by Bonifacio's two-run double. After a sacrifice bunt moved Bonifacio to third, Drew laced a single past a drawn-in infield off reliever R.J. Swindle for the go-ahead tally.
Arizona tacked on another run in the eighth, as Victorino stole a home run away from Alex Romero, but couldn't come down with the ball when he hit the ground. Montero sprinted to score from first before the relay throw beat Romero trying to stretch his hit into a triple.
Victorino more than made up for his near incredible catch in the bottom half, placing a dribbler into the right field corner to bring in the game-tying runs with his fourth triple of the season.
Game Notes
Both clubs struggled to come through in the clutch. Philadelphia left 16 runners on base while hitting 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and Arizona stranded nine while hitting just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position...Howard is first player since the Reds' Hank Sauer in 1948 to lead the National League in both home runs and RBI and fail to make the All-Star team...In the second game of the series on Saturday, Arizona's Randy Johnson (5-7) counters Philly's Adam Eaton (3-7)...Game time: 4:03.
