Instant Replay: Phillies 4, Indians 3 (11 innings)

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Make it four in a row for the suddenly-streaking Phillies.

And Ryan Howard was the extra-inning hero.

The Phillies first baseman blasted his sixth career walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning off of Cleveland closer Cody Allen, propelling the Phillies to a 4-3 win in Adam Morgan’s season debut.

With the count full after Allen fell behind 3-1, Howard, who had three hits, turned on a 95-mph fastball and drove it to the seats in right field for his fifth home run of the season.

The Phillies (13-10) have won seven of their last eight games.

They nearly ended the game in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Peter Bourjos, who hit in the ninth spot yet again (see story), doubled off the glove of third baseman Juan Uribe and down the left-field line, allowing Andres Blanco - who reached on a fielder’s choice - to reach third base. Cleveland manager Terry Francona then decided to have Jeff Manship intentionally walk Odubel Herrera to load the bases with one out for Freddy Galvis.

Francona came walking out and replaced Manship with Allen, who struck out Galvis on the seventh pitch, never throwing a ball to the Phillies shortstop. Allen then got Maikel Franco to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.

Allen had less luck in the bottom of the 11th. Howard was the first batter he faced.

Starting pitcher report
Morgan needed 23 pitches to escape each of the first two innings but had decent stuff, striking out four in his first six outs.

The lefty was cruising through the middle innings, having retired nine straight Indians hitters as the opposing pitcher, Corey Kluber, came to the plate with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. After fouling off a changeup with a 1-2 count, Kluber roped a double past third base, bringing leadoff hitter Rajai Davis to bat.

Morgan got Davis into a 1-2 hole and then had some trouble finding a sign with Carlos Ruiz behind the plate. On the eighth pitch, after three straight off-speed pitches, Davis lined a single up the middle to score Kluber. And then Morgan was done in by his usual adversary, a home run. Jason Kipnis smashed a 1-2 slider into the right-field seats.

Morgan stopped the bleeding by striking out Francisco Lindor, ending his night with his career-best seventh strikeout. He threw 97 pitches (63 strikes) in five innings, scattering five hits.

Bullpen report
Andrew Bailey came on in the sixth inning to face Cleveland’s 4-6 hitters and struck out the side on 11 pitches, finishing off the inning with a curveball to a swinging Yan Gomes. He got Michael Brantley and Mike Napoli looking at fastballs.

Bailey then pitched a clean seventh, working through a one-out walk to Juan Uribe.

Elvis Araujo and Hector Neris combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, with Neris striking out the only batter he faced in the inning, Napoli, with an 86-mph splitter. Neris then retired the Indians in order in the ninth, striking out a pair while dropping his ERA to 0.63.

David Hernandez earned the win, pitching two innings of scoreless and hitless baseball while striking out four.

The bullpen combined for six scoreless innings.

At the plate
Kluber, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, was cruising through four, having faced the minimum despite not having his best stuff.

But the Phillies finally got to him in the fifth. Howard, who lined a single to center his first time up, led off the inning with a first-pitch double to the gap in left-center. Ruiz then wasted no time, hitting a double of his own down the line in right on the first pitch, scoring Howard from second.

Cesar Hernandez then reached on an error by first baseman, Napoli, setting up an RBI single from David Lough to get the deficit to 3-2. Darin Ruf, pinch-hitting for Morgan, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Hernandez scored from third.

Herrera went hitless in his first two plate appearances, but extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single to start the sixth inning on a play Kipnis should have handled easily. Herrera’s on-base streak was upped to 20 games. He then reached with a single off Kipnis’ glove in the bottom of the eighth before getting picked off to end the inning.

The Phillies registered 10 hits on the night.

In the field
He wasn’t charged with an error, but Lough appeared to have a decent chance to throw Kluber out at second base from left field to end the top of the fifth inning. However, he bobbled the ball trying to get it into his hand to allow Kluber to reach second with ease.

Roster movement
To make room for Morgan, the Phillies optioned right-handed reliever Luis Garcia to Lehigh Valley (see story).

Up next
The Phillies and Indians play Game 2 of their three-game set Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Trevor Bauer (1-0, 4.76 ERA) takes on Jerad Eickhoff (1-3, 4.07).

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