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Werth's walk lifts Phillies to comeback win

Apr 4, 2008 - 12:49 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - It took nearly four hours, but the Philadelphia Phillies finally got their first win of the season.

Jason Werth's one-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th inning forced in the winning run Thursday as Philadelphia overcame four errors to defeat the Washington Nationals, 8-7, and avoid a three-game series sweep.

Jimmy Rollins led off the 10th with an infield single and made a heads-up play when he went all the way to third base on Shane Victorino's sacrifice.

"He did a good piece of baserunning there," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "You've got be heads up to make that play."

"I saw Jimmy running out of the corner of my eye," Victorino said. "It was a great play by Jimmy."

Rollins made it to third after third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and catcher Jesus Flores both attempted to field the bunt, leaving the third base bag wide open.

"It's a tough play. If the catcher can't field the ball, he (covers) third," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "Both guys went for the ball. Jimmy Rollins made a great play."

Jesus Colome (0-1) issued intentional walks to both Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to load the bases before unintentionally walking Werth on four straight pitches to end the marathon.

"After (Colome) threw the four intentional balls to walk Chase and 'Howie', I told myself to make sure he throws you something good," Werth said. "I didn't want to ruin the at-bat on the first pitch, swinging at something I shouldn't have been swinging at."

Clay Condrey (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th and combined with five other relievers to hold Washington to just one run after the Nationals built an early five-run lead.

"It definitely makes for a good plane ride to Cincinnati having this win," Condrey said of the next series against the Reds. "It was a good feeling down in the bullpen today. It was neat."

The Nationals seemed to be in command, as starting pitcher Jason Bergmann was sailing along and carried a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning.

After Bergmann recorded the first out of the sixth, Philadelphia's offense finally erupted as nine consecutive batters reached base.

Bergmann gave up four straight singles, capped by run-scoring hits by Pat Burrell and Geoff Jenkins that pulled the Phillies to within 6-3.

Saul Rivera replaced Bergmann and was promptly greeted with a two-run single from Pedro Feliz, cutting the deficit to 6-5. Chris Coste singled before Greg Dobbs tied the game with a pinch RBI single.

Ray King came on for Rivera and plunked Rollins with the first pitch, loading the bases. Victorino followed with an RBI single to right, giving the Phillies their first lead at 7-6.

King finally ended the outburst by getting Utley to ground into a double play.

Bergmann lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and seven hits. He walked one and struck out six.

Cristian Guzman tied the game, 7-7, with a two-out RBI single in the eighth.

Washington took advantage of some shoddy fielding and ineffective pitching by Phillies starter Jamie Moyer to bat around in the first inning and score five times. Ronnie Belliard's two-run RBI double highlighted the frame coupled with two Phillies errors.

"We were kind of down and out a little bit early on, especially with them scoring a bunch of runs in the first," Werth said. "It was good to see us bounce back."

The Nationals threatened to score in the second after loading the bases with none out, but Moyer got Austin Kearns to hit a comebacker that started a home-to-first double play. He then struck out Aaron Boone to escape further trouble.

"You can only hold (the Phillies) for so long," Acta said. "We had our chances."

Coste got Philadelphia on the board with a leadoff home run in the third inning, but Kearns restored Washington's five-run margin with a two-out, RBI single in the fourth.

"We've all seen countless number of times where a team jumps out 5-0 and the other team somehow finds a way to come back," Coste said. "I don't think we were panicking when it was 5-0."

Moyer went 3 2/3 innings and allowed six runs - three earned - on nine hits.