It was a heroic homecoming for former Dodger Chad Billingsley on Tuesday night. Billingsley pitched six innings of two-run ball in his return to Dodger Stadium and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Los Angeles 7-2 in the second game of a four-game set.
Billingsley (1-2) allowed two runs on six hits with three strikeouts in six innings, picking up his first win of the season against his former team. Billingsley was a first-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2003 and played eight seasons in Los Angeles from 2006 to 2013.
The right-hander from Defiance, Ohio defied the odds overcoming Tommy John Surgery and a torn-flexor tendon thereafter, which forced Billingsley to miss the better part of three seasons.
"It's been a long road and I was pretty excited to be back out there in a familiar atmosphere," Billingsley said. "I had a lot of emotion. Pitching at Dodger Stadium was pretty familiar, and I couldn't have asked for a better first win."
Billingsley made a triumphant return to the mound beating the Dodgers and improving his record to 42-27 at Dodger Stadium in his career. The victory was Billingsley's first win since April 10, 2013 when the Dodgers defeated the Padres 4-3.
Jeff Francoeur provided the offense for Philadelphia as the left fielder went 2-for-5 with a double, home run and three RBIs. Francoeur has three homers and 12 RBIs in 13 games against NL West opponents this season.
The Phillies strung together a handful of infield singles in the first inning as three Philadelphia batters reached base on soft ground balls. Ben Revere started the rally off with a soft grounder to second base that he beat out for a single, than stole second before scoring the first run of the game four batters later. The theft was Revere's 20th stolen base on the season, the fifth consecutive year he has reached that milestone.
Two innings later, Francouer hit a double off the wall in left field off of Brett Anderson to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead. In all, every starting position player for Philadelphia had at least one hit on the night.
"I was lucky enough to get some extra base hits," Francoeur said. "To me, that's how you got to score runs and win ballgames, and luckily we were able to do that."
Anderson (5-5) struggled for the first time in his last four starts. The Texas southpaw was riding a three-game winning streak entering into the game, but he was not sharp on Tuesday allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits in five innings.
"I beat myself tonight," Anderson said. "I had no business throwing Francoeur a strike with two strikes right there. I came out a little lethargic, but give credit to Billingsley, he pitched well against his former team."
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Another unfortunate circumstance, pitching like ass with Colin Farrell in the stands...safe to say I shall not be in True Detective 3. — Brett Anderson (@BrettAnderson35) July 8, 2015
Yasmani Grandal homered for the second consecutive night with a two-run blast to right center field in the bottom half of the sixth inning. It was Grandal's 14th long ball of the year as the switch-hitting All-Star as hit all of his home runs from the left side of the plate.
"He threw me a change up that stayed over the plate, I didn't think the ball was gonna go out because I hit it to the deepest part of the park," Grandal said of the home run. "Shockingly, the ball was able to go over the fence."
Grandal is now tied with Buster Posey for the most home runs by any catcher in baseball, and is one shy of his career high of 15.
Game Notes:
Chad Billingsley won his 42nd game at Dodger Stadium, the second-most among active players behind Clayton Kershaw (56).
The Dodgers recalled left hand reliever Ian Thomas from Triple-A OKC before the game, optioning Eric Surkamp back to Triple-A.
Speaking of the minor leagues, Baseball America released it's Midseason Top 50 Prospects on Tuesday and four young up and coming Dodgers made the list. Jose De Leon (#20), infielder Hector Olivera (#16), Julio Urias (#4) and Corey Seager (#1) all made the list.
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