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Victorino pinch-hit double pushes Phillies past Cardinals

Jun 25, 2007 - 2:07 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- After a couple of rain delays, leave it to the "Flyin' Hawaiian" to provide a rainbow of hope for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Shane Victorino hit a pinch-hit three-run double in the eighth inning as the Phillies posted a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday in a rain-soaked contest.

The game was twice delayed by rain, the first setback was a 15-minute delay to start the game and the second stoppage paused the contest for 95 minutes.

Victorino - dubbed the "Flyin' Hawaiian" - came in to pinch hit for Brian Sanches (1-0) with the bases loaded and two out, roped a full-count line drive off reliever Randy Flores over the outstretched glove of left fielder Chris Duncan to clear the bases and stake the Phillies to a 4-1 lead.

The stage was set for Victorino as Jimmy Rollins singled to center off Brad Thompson (5-3) to lead off the frame. After Michael Bourn fouled out to the catcher, Chase Utley flied out to center.

"It's funny, usually on days off, I kind of just relax," Victorino said. "But for some odd reason, I was down in the cage three or four times. Just swinging. I don't know if it was a coincidence or what, but it turned out for the best. I've been feeling great at the plate."

Ryan Howard was intentionally walked to place runners on first and second. Aaron Rowand followed last season's home run champion with a hard-to-handle grounder down the line, but third baseman Scott Rolen had difficulty in transferring the ball from his glove to his hand, loading the bases.

The Cardinals relieved the righthanded Thompson with lefthander Randy Flores, turning around the switch-hitting Victorino, whose .264 average batting from the left side against lefthanders is slightly worse than his .273 average versus righthanders. Victorino sent the seventh pitch of the bat over the head of Duncan, who had replaced starting left fielder Ryan Ludwick just an inning before.

"What are you going to do?", Thompson said. "I got behind in some counts. I got some guys on. It's one of those things. The ball was up. I didn't get a bunch of ground-ball outs."

Thompson allowed three runs over 1 2/3 innings to take the loss for St. Louis, which fell to 1-23 in contests in which they scored less than three runs.

Sanches walked one batter after relieving Ryan Madson at the beginning of the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings for his first major league win. Craig Condrey pitched a perfect eighth before turning it over to closer Antonio Alfonseca, who escaped a two-out, bases-loaded as he got So Taguchi to ground out into a fielder's choice.

"They did a pretty good job," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "Madson, Sanches, Condrey and Alfonseca finished it off. It got a little testy but he got it done."

The second rain delay was long enough that Phillies starter, Cole Hamels, did not return and was replaced by Ryan Madson. The lefthander yielded one run and three hits with three strikeouts over three innings, unable to go the necessary five innings in an effort to become the first National League pitcher to reach the 10-win mark.

"Rain delays are tough," Hamels said. "With the research and coaches' opinions and they've been through a lot, so you have to go on that. But for myself, I'd like to go out and pitch. I don't know all of the circumstances of what can come from an hour rain delay and going back out there. I'm sure I don't want to learn about that."

"There's been a lot of times when you have a guy rest for 40 minutes to an hour during a delay and you send him back out there and that's when he comes back sore or hurt," Manuel said. "I've always done that. You're gone."

St. Louis starter Kip Wells had his strongest outing in over a month, permitting one run and three hits with five strikeouts over five frames.

"He threw the ball well and that's encouraging," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "It's just an irritating loss. We're usually really good after those rain delays. We were shut out for those six innings. That's just tough to take."