The Phillies blew a lead in the top of the eighth inning, but roared back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3, in front of 43,129 at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night.
Cliff Lee pitched well and had a big hit for the Phillies, who are 20-22.
The victory snapped Cincinnati’s six-game winning streak.
Starting pitching report
Lee was strong once again. He held the second-highest scoring team in the NL to two runs over seven innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Lee has allowed just four runs in 22 innings over his last three starts.
Cincinnati rookie Tony Cingrani allowed five hits and three runs in five innings of work. He left the game trailing, 3-2.
Bullpen report
With Mike Adams sidelined with a back strain, Antonio Bastardo got the call to protect a one-run lead in the eighth. He failed, giving up a solo home run to Joey Votto on the second pitch he threw.
Justin De Fratus finished the eighth and got the win. De Fratus has faced just four batters since joining the club and has two wins.
Jonathan Papelbon took over after the Phillies re-took the lead and earned the save.
Cincinnati lefty Sean Marshall allowed a one-out walk and a hit in the eighth. The hit was a check-swing infield single toward third base by Ryan Howard. Michael Young, who had walked earlier in the frame, scooted home with the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice against Jonathan Broxton.
At the plate
Jimmy Rollins’ two-run home run off Cingrani in the third inning was his first against a lefty since June 24, 2012. It was the Phillies’ first homer with a man on base since April 27. They had hit 16 straight solo homers.
With the home run, Rollins reached 1,200 runs for his career.
Lee doubled leading off the bottom of the fifth, moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Rollins and scored the Phillies’ third run on Young’s two-out triple.
Domonic Brown drove home the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice in the eighth. Carlos Ruiz pushed home Howard with an insurance run on a sacrifice fly off of Broxton. Howard dove into home plate just ahead of centerfielder Shin-Soo Choo’s throw.
Jay Bruce and Votto homered for Cincinnati. Bruce's two-run shot came against Lee on a hanging curveball.
Phillies pitchers have allowed 49 homers, second-most in the NL.
Transaction
The Phils swapped out a pair of relievers, sending lefty Raul Valdes to Triple A and recalling right-hander B.J. Rosenberg (see story).
Health check
An MRI revealed a mild strain in the middle of reliever Mike Adams’ back (see story). He is day to day. If he can’t be ready to pitch by Tuesday, Adams might have to go on the disabled list as the Phils must add a starting pitcher that day.
Up next
Kyle Kendrick (4-1, 2.47) and Bronson Arroyo (3-4, 3.76) are the pitchers Saturday at 4:05 p.m.