Placido Polanco recorded his 2,000th hit on Monday night, a home run over left center off of David Carpenter in the eighth inning to add a two-run emphasis to the Philadelphia Phillies' 5-1 win over the Houston Astros. Joe Blanton earned the win with seven strikeouts, and just one earned run and six hits surrendered.
Astros' starter Lucas Harrell gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) before being pulled after 5 2/3 innings. Freddy Galvis (3-for-4 from the plate) scored Polanco twice on RBI singles in the fifth and sixth innings. Carlos Ruiz (2-for-3) scored Shane Victorino on another sixth-inning single, improving his major league leading .330 batting average among catchers.
Blanton's only big blemish came in the eighth inning when he allowed a solo home run to Marwin Gonzalez, pinch hitting for reliever Fernando Abad. Blanton then allowed a single to Jose Altuve before being relieved by Wilton Lopez with no outs.
The Phillies improved to 17-19 overall with the win to move within 5.5 games of the first place Washington Nationals in the NL East.
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