Former Missouri State Bear Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer to spark a five-run sixth inning for Philadelphia and Roy Halladay settled down after a shaky first as the Phillies won 11-6 to grab a lead in their division series.
Things started well for the Cardinals who jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Lance Berkman’s deep home run to right field.
Tony La Russa on jumping out to a 3-0 lead
That came after a lead off single from Rafael Furcal and a one out walk to Albert Pujols. Skip Schumaker led off the second inning with a single, then Halladay retired 21 straight Cardinal batters. Furcal was back in the lineup and after his single, he stole second, showing no signs of a sore hamstring that kept him out of Wednesday’s win over Houston.
La Russa on being agressive with Furcal
In the open games of divisional series play, Halladay has pitched 17 innings and has allowed just three hits.
Kyle Lohse started the game by retiring the first ten batters he faced. In the bottom of the fourth, Chase Utley got the Phillies first hit and scored to cut the lead to 3-1.
In the sixth, Lohse gave up singles to Jimmy Rollins and Utley before Howard’s one out blast. Shane Victorino singled and Raul Ibanez cranked a two run homer and that was it for Lohse who left with six earned runs in 5.1 innings.
The Phillies then added three more in the seventh and two more in the eighth off the bullpen.
La Russa on Mark Rzepczynski’s performance, 3 hits, 3 earned runs, no outs
After Halladay was done for the night, the Cardinals made a modest rally tacking on three meaningless runs. Philly closer Ryan Madson gave up a two run double, then struck out the final two batters to end the game.