(6/25/2010)
Philadelphia, PA – This game was supposed to be Roy Halladay’s return to Toronto—a chance for the Phillies to visit Rogers Stadium to make a statement with their new ace—but due to the G-20 summit, Halladay invited his former team to Philly and played host in a stellar seven innings of work to lead the Phillies in a 9-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park.
Halladay (9-6) allowed no runs on six hits and struck out four in the win. He was assisted from the unlikely source of first baseman Ross Gload who went 3-for-4 with four RBI.
Because of the AL rules, Gload got the start at first, and normal starter Ryan Howard was given the DH role. Gload got the Phils started in the second with a two-out single to left that scored Jayson Werth to put the visitors up 1-0.
Halladay sat the first nine Blue Jays down and didn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the fourth when the always dangerous Jose Batista smacked a ground-rule double to center.
The Phillies tacked on another run in the top of the fourth when Shane Victorino scored Werth once again on a sacrifice ground out to second.
Philadelphia tacked on six more runs in the top of the fifth. The first three runs came on Chase Utley and Ryan Howard singles. Gload then smacked a double that rolled all the way to the center field wall and cleared the bases plating Utley, Howard, and Werth.
Shane Victorino capped he Phillies scoring with a solo-shot in the eighth inning off newly inserted pitcher Brian Tallet to bring the game to 9-0.
Halladay was pulled in the seventh after throwing a solid 106 pitches and gained excellent support from the bullpen as Jose Contreras and David Herndon each pitched scoreless innings to preserve Doc’s first win against his former club.
For Toronto, the loss went to Jesse Litsch (0-2), who allowed six runs on seven hits in only four innings for work.
The teams will play Game Two of the three-game set today as Toronto will send Shaun Marcum (6-3) to face the recently productive Cole Hamels (6-5).
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