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Error allows winning run as Phillies top Giants

May 4, 2008 - 11:10 PM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - Taking advantage of some sloppy defense, the Philadelphia Phillies were handed a walk-off win.

Second baseman Eugenio Velez's fielding error on a grounder by Geoff Jenkins in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Ryan Howard with the winning run as the Phillies scored five unearned runs in their 6-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the rubber game on Sunday.

The miscue was the Giants' third error of the game and reliever Keiichi Yabu (2-2) was made to pay as a result.

"Overall, I thought capitalizing on their mistakes was a big thing," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "Today's game wasn't what you'd call a pretty game but, at the same time, we won."

"Today, the defense just wasn't there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We've got to catch the ball. The ball can't get by (Velez) there."

Yabu retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth before walking Howard and Pat Burrell. Jenkins then hit a sharp grounder in the hole between first and second that skipped underneath Velez's glove. Howard slid in safely at the plate just ahead of Randy Winn's throw from right.

"I was thinking to score all the way," Howard said. "I just tried to get a good jump and go as fast as I could."

"Obviously, Ryan's not the fleetest of foot," Jenkins said. "But I thought he had a chance to score and he ran his butt off. It won the game."

It was the second walk-off win in the series for the Phillies after the first two contests went 10 innings. Burrell won Friday's game with a two-out, two-run homer while the Giants won a one-run decision in Saturday's affair.

"Both teams battled this whole series," Howard said. "Every game came down to the wire. A couple of them went extra innings."

"We fought hard this whole series," Bochy said. "We were a few outs from getting a sweep."

Brad Lidge (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the win.

San Francisco had taken a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning on a two-out, RBI triple by Jose Castillo, but Philadelphia tied it in the bottom half on a one-out, solo home run by Carlos Ruiz.

"Fortunately, Ruiz hit the big home run that kept us in the game," Burrell said. "Without that, we're probably gonna lose the game, so you've got to give him a lot of credit."

The anticipated matchup between two promising pitchers never materialized. San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Philadelphia's Cole Hamels each labored through their six-inning stints, throwing 110 and 99 pitches, respectively.

Lincecum allowed four unearned runs on six hits with two walks, five strikeouts and two wild pitches. Hamels gave up four runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

"A win's a win," Hamels said. "Especially being able to take a series. All that matters is winning."

The Phillies had opportunities to score in the first two innings with a pair of leadoff doubles, but Lincecum retired the next three batters in each frame. Philadelphia finally capitalized in the third with the help of a bad call to score two unearned runs.

Shane Victorino led off with a grounder to short that Emmanuel Burriss fielded, but his throw was wide. First baseman Rich Aurilia tagged Victorino, but umpire Marty Foster called him safe.

Eric Bruntlett singled and, three batters later, Burrell lined a two-out, two-run double to left to make it 2-0.

"(Lincecum) just left it up, and I was able to hook it down the line," Burrell said.

"We got the bad end of a call at first base," Bochy said. "That lost us a couple of runs."

San Francisco used a pair of two-out hits to tie the score in the fourth. Castillo had an RBI single and then scored all the way from first base on Aurilia's second double of the game.

Philadelphia added two more unearned runs in the fifth inning when a single and a throwing error by Castillo put the first two runners on. Lincecum uncorked a wild pitch to score one run before Geoff Jenkins' sacrifice fly made it 4-2.

However, Aurilia responded quickly for the Giants in the sixth when he belted a two-out, two-run home run to retie the game at 4-4.