The Philadelphia Phillies ended their three-game set with the Reds on Thursday night with a 4-3 walk-off win in extra innings. The game featured a heavyweight matchup on the mound with Cole Hamels squaring off against Johnny Cueto. The Phils trailed for much of the game, but rallies in the sixth and eighth inning evened things up to send it into extras.
Philadelphia would break the scoreless tie in the bottom of the 11th against Cincinnati reliever Alfredo Simon. Kevin Frandsen led off the inning with a single and was promptly moved to third on a double by Chase Utley. After an intentional walk to Ryan Howard, Frandsen was erased at home on a fielder's choice. But the Phils would walk-off one batter later, when John Mayberry, Jr. singled to left to easily score Utley from third for the win.
Both Cueto and Hamels were impressive, but not particularly efficient. Cueto lasted only five innings while throwing 111 pitches. Hamels went six innings and gave up three runs. Cueto came out for the sixth, but was chased after issuing a lead-off walk to Ryan Howard and a double to Domonic Brown. Dusty Baker made the call for Jose Arredondo, and he immediately yielded back-to-back sacrifice flies to Laynce Nix and Erik Kratz. The two-run rally closed the lead to one and Jimmy Rollins would even things up two innings later with yet another sac fly. It would remain knotted at 3-3 until the 11th inning.
With the team that has the second best record in baseball heading out of town, the Phils now welcome the MLB-leading Washington Nationals for a weekend series. Kyle Kendrick will face Edwin Jackson in the series opener on Friday night.
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