PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Shane Victorino hit a two-run single in the first off Scott Kazmir, Cole Hamels started off with shutout ball and the Philadelphia Phillies took a 2-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays after three innings Monday night as they tried to wrap up their first World Series title since 1980.
Ahead 3-1 in the best-of-seven Series and needing just one more win, the Phillies started their ace Hamels on a wet, chilly night. Hamels, 4-0 with a 1.55 postseason ERA coming in, was bidding to become the first pitcher to win five starts in a postseason.
Scott Kazmir was on the mound for the Rays, creating a rematch of Game 1 starters. Thirty-six of the 42 teams to take a 3-1 Series lead have gone on to win.
With the game time temperature 47 degrees and a light rain falling, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins wore a cap with earflaps, as did Rays infielders Evan Longoria and Jason Bartlett. Both starting pitchers wore turtlenecks under their jerseys.
just once, was trying for the city’s first major sports title since the NBA’s 76ers in 1983. The Phillies had not lost at Citizens Bank Park during the postseason, going 6-0.
Hamels breezed through the first three innings, needing just 33 pitches to Kazmir’s 57. Tampa Bay had just two runners, with Dioner Navarro reaching on a two-out walk in the second and Akinori Iwamura hitting a two-out single in the third.
Iwamura flied into a stiff wind blowing in from left leading off the game, and Carl Crawford followed with a low liner that Rollins reached down for only to have the ball roll out of his glove. Crawford, who hesitated briefly when he thought the ball was going to be caught, was just thrown out at first and B.J. Upton followed with a groundout.
While Hamels needed seven pitches to get through the first inning, Kazmir labored through 29.
Jayson Werth walked with one out and Chase Utley was hit by a pitch. After Ryan Howard struck out, a walk to Pat Burrell loaded the bases for Victorino, who hadn’t driven in a run during the first four games.
Victorino got ahead 2-0 in the count, took a strike, then lined the next pitch into left field. Pedro Feliz singled, reloading the bases, but Carlos Ruiz flied out.
th.
“It’s bumping Carl up as much as anything, too,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I wanted Carl to get up there. He’s been a successful two-place hitter for us. And I wanted to unfreeze those two guys a little bit. The fact that they’ve had a little bit of problems in the normal slots for both of them, I thought just by giving them a little different perspective today may help.”
Crawford batted second most of the year. He was inserted into the No. 5 hole when he returned for the playoffs after missing more than seven weeks injuring the middle finger on his right hand.
Pena and Longoria made outs in the second inning, leaving them a combined 0-for-31 with 15 strikeouts. The record combined 0-for for teammates in the World Series in 0-for-32 by Lonny Frey (17) and Wally Berger (15) of the 1939 Cincinnati Reds, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
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