Instant Replay: Phillies 3, Rockies 2

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DENVER — Staring at another loss, their most heartbreaking yet on their current road trip, the Phillies rallied in the ninth Sunday afternoon off Rockies closer Greg Holland and won, 3-2, on Cameron Rupp’s two-run double.
 
The hit gave Rupp a measure of revenge since he was thrown out at the plate in the eighth and helped the Phillies break a five-game losing streak, all losses coming on this trip. The Phillies also had a runner thrown out at home in the ninth.

The Rockies went ahead 2-1 on a two-out double in the seventh by Charlie Blackmon, his third double of the game. The hit off Aaron Nola scored pinch hitter Raimel Tapia, who walked and stole second.

Odubel Herrera hustled a single into a double to open the ninth against Holland and moved to third on Maikel Franco’s single. Hyun Soo Kim hit a grounder to Story, who threw out Herrera at the plate, but Rupp followed with his two-run double to the gap in left-center, tagging Holland with just his second blown save in 36 chances.

Starting pitching report
Nola made his Coors Field debut and his first start against the Rockies. He gave the Phillies another outstanding outing, working seven innings. It was a welcome change for the Phillies in the wake of the problems starters Nick Pivetta and Vince Velasquez encountered in the first two games of this series.

But Rockies rookie starter Jeff Hoffman, who limited the Phillies to one run and three hits in seven innings May 22 at Citizens Bank Park, went toe-to-toe with Nola for seven innings. Hoffman allowed a second-inning homer to Maikel Franco, his 17th of the year. 

Nola gave up six hits and two runs in seven innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. In his past nine starts, Nola has a 1.76 ERA (12 earned runs, 61 1/3 innings) with 17 walks and 70 strikeouts.

Hoffman gave up four hits and one run in seven innings with one walk and eight strikeouts, one shy of his career-high. He had nine strikeouts June 4 at San Diego. The seven innings matched Hoffman’s season-high, but it was the first time in five starts he went that far.

Bullpen report
Hector Neris allowed a leadoff bunt single before picking up his 11th save.

At the plate
Hernandez has reached base safely at least twice in each of his past nine games. The last Phillies player to do that was Blanco from Aug. 16-26, 2015.

Franco hit his 17th home run.

In the field
Gonzalez took a broken-bat hit away from Nava to end the third with a lunging catch of his sinking liner.

Williams opened the fourth with a grounder that shortstop Story went far to his left to grab and then got Williams by making a 360-degree turn to get off a throw from well to the right of second base.

Galvis made a diving back-handed stop on the outfield grass of Arenado’s grounder. Arenado doesn’t run well, but he beat Galvis’ long throw.

Shortstop Story made a backhanded grab of Kim's grounder and with a long jump throw just got him at first.

After Blackmon put the Rockies ahead in the eighth, first baseman Nava made a diving stop of Parra's hard grounder and flipped to Nola at first to end the inning.

Lights out
Mark Leiter Jr. struck out nine batters without issuing a walk Saturday in 4⅓ innings of relief of starter Nick Pivetta. Leiter is the fourth pitcher over the past 40 years to strike out nine or more batters without issuing a walk in a relief appearance.

The others were Tom Gordon for the 1989 Kansas City Royals (10 strikeouts), Bruce Ruffin (9) for the 1993 Rockies and Mark Guthrie (12) for the 1995 Minnesota Twins. 

Much improved
Andrew Knapp caught a bullpen session, an indication his bruised right hand is improved and he’s nearing a return. Knapp was hit on the hand with a foul tip Thursday and didn’t play in the Rockies series. The Phillies recalled catcher Jorge Alfaro on Friday from Triple A Lehigh Valley when Knapp was unavailable.

Up next
The Phillies are off Monday and will conclude their eight-game road trip with a two-game series at Atlanta that begins Tuesday at 7:35 p.m. Julio Teheran (7-9, 5.10) will start for the Braves. The Phillies have not named their starter to take the turn of Jake Thompson, who was optioned to Triple A Lehigh Valley after his last start Thursday against the Los Angeles Angels.

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