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Hamels gets help from bullpen to win first game

Apr 15, 2007 - 4:23 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Chase Utley helped the Philadelphia Phillies finally get some clutch hits, and Cole Hamels received some much needed support from his bullpen.

Utley hit his second home run of the year and drove in two runs, and the Phillies' beleaguered bullpen threw three scoreless innings in an 8-5 victory over the Houston Astros.

Philadelphia got the clutch hits that were missing for the first week of the season and scored seven of their eight runs on two-out hits.

In its previous five games, Philadelphia had left 47 runners on base, including 11 in Friday's 9-6 to Houston and 14 in Sunday's 6-4 loss to Florida. Not surprisingly, it was just 1-4 during that span.

"Today, we got some big hits," said Jimmy Rollins, who hit a two-out two-run homer that tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth. "We gave the fans something to cheer about."

The home run was Rollins' sixth, which leads the National League.

Meanwhile, Hamels had been pitching brilliantly but had nothing to show for it because of the bullpen's ineptitude. He allowed just three runs in his last start against the New York Mets and left with a 5-3 lead, but was burned when the bullpen allowed seven runs in an 11-5 loss on Monday.

In his first start of the year, Hamels pitched seven shutout innings but again the bullpen let him down by allowing three runs in a 3-2 loss to Atlanta on April 4.

This time the bullpen did its job for Hamels (1-0). The lefthander surrendered five runs and eight hits in six innings and left with a 7-5 lead which the bullpen preserved.

"That's what we definitely need," Hamels said. "When you have a guy that you know that you can count on in the seventh inning, in the eighth inning and your closer, it's good for the team. It's good for the pitchers."

Francisco Rosario pitched a scoreless seventh in his Phillies debut and Antonio Alfonseca followed with a scoreless eighth to hold the lead.

"(The bullpen's performance) definitely gives us a lift and it gives us something to build on," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Utley drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the sixth as Philadelphia snapped a two-game losing streak.

The All-Star second baseman drilled an RBI double to deep right-center to give the Phillies a 6-5 lead and Pat Burrell followed two batter later with an RBI single to right to make the score 7-5.

Carlos Ruiz tacked on a run in the eighth by singling and advancing to third when the Astros failed to double off Rollins. Ruiz then scored on an infield single by Shane Victorino to provide the final run.

"Our backs are against the wall and I think everybody in here knows it," Burrell said. "There was a little more intensity in the game."

Tom Gordon worked around two walks in the ninth by inducing a double play from Craig Biggio to record his second save of the season.

"I thought we might get a chance to sneak up on Gordon today," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "He didn't look like he had his best stuff. He was having a little trouble with his location, but it didn't happen. Biggio hit the ball good. It turned into a double play."

Woody Williams (0-2), who started in place of the injured Jason Jennings, pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs - four earned - and seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

"It was OK," Garner said of Williams' outing. "(Philadelphia) is a good hitting ball club. You've got to maneuver around some land mines out there."

Jason Lane snapped out of an 0-for-9 slump by blasting a three-run shot - his second of the year - for Houston, which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Lane also had an RBI on a groundout that tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth.