Phillies Top White Sox, 7-6
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Odubel Herrera kept up his hitting surge with a homer among his three hits and drove in three runs as the Philadelphia Phillies held off a late Chicago White Sox rally in a 7-6 win Tuesday night.
Tommy Joseph and Roman Quinn added two hits apiece and combined to drive in three runs for the Phillies. Herrera, who hits between Joseph and Quinn in the lineup, is 15-for-28 in his last seven games.
Melky Cabrera hit a three-run home run for the White Sox, who have lost four straight. Struggling veteran James Shields (5-18), winless since July 26, allowed six earned runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Trailing 7-3 in the ninth, the White Sox pulled within one on a two-out wild pitch and a two-run double from Adam Eaton. However, Michael Mariot came on and got Tim Anderson to ground out to short to end the game and pick up his first career save.
Jake Thompson (3-5) gave up three runs and four hits over five innings. The rookie right-hander, who struggled for most of August after first getting called up from the minors, has won his last two starts and has a 2.99 ERA over his last five appearances.
For the second straight game, the Phillies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After Quinn walked, Herrera hit a 1-1 pitch into the Phillies bullpen for his 15th homer of the season.
Herrera also started a two-out rally in the third, singling and stealing second, before scampering home on Joseph's two-out double. Joseph then came home when Anderson couldn't handle a sharp liner off the bat of Maikel Franco, giving the Phillies a 4-3 lead.
Like Herrera, Joseph is also riding a hot streak with 10 hits in his last six games.
Herrera's big night continued in the fifth when he sneaked a ground-ball through the hole between first and second to drive in Quinn and extend Philadelphia's lead to 5-3. On the next pitch, the speedy center fielder stole his second base of the game and 24th of the season.
Quinn's two-run single in the sixth provided enough insurance for the Phillies to open their second-to-last home series of the season with a win.
Before the ninth, Chicago's big inning came in the third. With two outs and nobody on, Anderson doubled and Jose Abreu walked before Cabrera lined a 1-1 pitch just inside the right-field foul pole for his 12th home run of the year, putting the White Sox ahead 3-2.
During Chicago's four-game losing streak, the White Sox have been outscored 28-11.
FLASHING LEATHER
With two on and one out in the fifth, sure-handed Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis made a very nice sliding snag of an Abreu ground ball before starting an impressive inning-ending double play.
The Phillies also ended the seventh inning with a double play.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Phillies: Ryan Howard missed his third straight game because of knee soreness. He had his knee drained over the weekend.
UP NEXT
The Phillies and White Sox close their two-game series Wednesday with Chicago LHP Chris Sale (16-8, 3.03) opposing Philadelphia RHP Jerad Eickhoff (10-14, 3.74).
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
