Mayberry's walk-off single lifts Phils over Reds in 11th

August 24, 2012

Box Score (Courtesy of ESPN.com)

mlb.com

Just under four and a half hours into Thursday night's game, both the Reds and Phillies found themselves running out of players, as pointed out by CSNPhilly.com's John R. Finger on Twitter.

• John R. Finger‏@jrfingerCSN
  the Phillies have zero bench players and two relievers left. The Reds have two relievers and one bench player left.

So, eleven innings in, John Mayberry Jr. solved the incoming problem.

With the bases loaded, Mayberry hit a walk-off single into left, scoring Chase Utley and giving the Phils a 4-3 win.

The game was expected to be a pitcher's duel between two Cy Young Candidates in Johnny Cueto and Cole Hamels, but sometimes things don't go as planned.

Cueto pitched into the sixth, but his night was finished after he walked Ryan Howard and gave up a double to Dominic Brown with no outs. Cueto's line was five innings pitched with two earned runs off of five hits, three walks and four strike outs

Jose Arredondo gave up the two runs, but they ultimatley counted towards Cueto's outing.

Both Howard and Brown scored from sacrifice flies by Laynce Nix then Erik Kratz.

Hamels pitched six innings for the Phillies, but gave up six hits and three earned runs. Like Cueto, Hamels also struck out four and walked three.

The Reds struck early by scoring a run in the first inning.

Heavy rain fell in the first inning and it appeared to bother Hamels.

Cincinnati loaded the bases with one out from singles by Zack Cozart and Drew Stubbs, and a walk to Ryan Ludwick.

Todd Frazier hit a ground ball to Kevin Frandsen at third, but instead of throwing home to prevent a run and get an out, Frandsen threw to first.

Cozart scored to make it 1-0 Reds with two outs. Miguel Cairo grounded out to Michael Martinez at short, who made a diving play, to end the inning.

The rain stopped, but the Reds scored two more runs off of Hamels in the sixth.

Jay Bruce singled, then Ryan Ludwick hit a sharp grounder to short, that Michael Martinez could not handle. Ludwick reached first on a single.

In the next at-bat, Todd Frazier hit a double into center to score Bruce and Ludwick. Frazier ended up reaching third on that same play due to an error by Laynce Nix.

Cincinnati had a 3-0 lead, but after scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Phillies tied the game in the eighth.

Brown, Mayberry and Erik Kratz each singled to load the bases with one out. Then Jimmy Rollins, who replaced Martinez in the sixth, hit a sacrifice fly to left.

Brown tagged up from third and was able to beat the throw home by Ryan Ludwick to tie the game at three.

The Phillies bullpen, which has struggled with consistency, came up big on Thursday night.

B.J. Rosenberg, Phillipe Aumont, Jonathan Papelbon, Jeremy Horst, and Raul Valdes (W, 3-2)  all pitched scoreless innings en route to the win.

Sean Marshall surrendered the run off of Rollins' sac-fly in the eighth, he pitched 2/3 innings.

Sam LeCure also pitched 2/3 innings, allowing no runs.

J.J. Hoover pitched a scoreless two innings for the Reds, and Alfredo Simon (2-2) received the loss for giving up the walk-off single to Mayberry in the eleventh.

The Phillies split the four game series with Cincinnati.

The Nationals come to town next for a three game series that begins on Friday night.

Extras: Michael Schwimer was optioned to Triple-A after Jeremy Horst returned from paternity leave.