Maikel Franco Lifts Phillies Over Giants 5-4 In 12 Innings
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Maikel Franco drove home the winning run with one out in the 12th inning to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 5-4 victory over the struggling San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.
Ryan Howard homered among his three hits and Cameron Rupp also connected for Philadelphia. Franco finished with three RBIs, including one on the unusual play that ended the game.
With the bases loaded and one out, Franco lined what appeared to be a clean single into right-center field. But young teammate Aaron Altherr, who was on first base, got so excited about the Phillies winning that he rushed to congratulate Franco without ever touching second base.
Giants catcher Buster Posey noticed the blunder and took a throw at second from right fielder Hunter Pence that technically forced out Altherr. Franco did indeed cross first base, though, so Tommy Joseph scored easily from third and the Giants had no chance at an inning-ending double play.
Posey singled, doubled and drove in three runs for the NL West leaders, who have lost 13 of 17 since the All-Star break. Denard Span had three hits.
George Kontos (2-2) started the 12th by hitting Joseph with a pitch. He went to second on Luis Garcia's sacrifice bunt and Philadelphia had runners on first and second with one out after Kontos walked Cesar Hernandez.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy called on Jake Peavy for his first appearance since being demoted to the bullpen when the team acquired left-hander Matt Moore from Tampa Bay on Monday.
Peavy induced a grounder by Altherr, but he reached to load the bases when third baseman Eduardo Nunez bobbled the ball for an error.
Franco then drove the next pitch from Peavy into right-center.
Luis Garcia (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win, capping an impressive performance by Philadelphia's bullpen. Six relievers combined to pitch seven shutout innings while allowing two hits.
The teams combined to use 14 pitchers in a game that took 4 hours, 2 minutes.
Franco hit a two-out, two-run single in the eighth off Giants starter Johnny Cueto to tie the score at 4 and complete Philadelphia's comeback from a 4-0 deficit.
Cueto was cruising along until giving up a pair of homers in the seventh and Franco's hit in the eighth. He was lifted after allowing four runs in 7 2/3 while recording his 12th career double-digit strikeout game by fanning 10 Phillies. He gave up seven hits and walked one.
Phil Klein recovered from a shaky first inning in an emergency start for the Phillies and lasted five innings, giving up four runs and eight hits. Philadelphia scratched scheduled starter Aaron Nola 4 hours before the game and placed the right-hander on the 15-day disabled list with a strained elbow.
Prior to Wednesday, Klein made eight relief appearances for Texas this season and had pitched 36 games in his big league career. He was a 30th-round selection by the Rangers in 2011.
The Giants jumped on the tall right-hander by scoring two runs in a long first inning thanks to Posey's two-run single.
San Francisco tacked on two in the third. Posey's double off the wall in center scored Pence. Posey went to third on a groundout and scored on Brandon Belt's sacrifice fly to the wall in center, making it 4-0.
The Phillies got a pair of runs back in the seventh on back-to-back homers by Howard and Rupp.
Howard got his third hit of the game off Cueto, this one just inside the foul pole in left field for his 15th homer of the season. Rupp followed with a drive to center that pulled Philadelphia to 4-2.
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