The Phils took a quick lead in the first, and this time held on to it, as they defeat the Braves, 10-5.

The Phils took the lead in the first as, with runners on the corners, and with one man out, Ryan Howard hits an RBI double, knocking in Ben Revere, who had started off the Phils’ half of the first with a walk, moved up to second base on Jimmy Rollins’ ground out, 6-3, then stopped at third base on Chase Utley’s single, giving the Phils a 1-0 lead, while Utley, who had just singled, would stop at third base. The Phils then made it a 3-0 lead, as Utley and Howard would both score on second baseman Tyler Pastornicky’s fielding error of Michael Young’s grounder.  The Braves would get a run back in the third as, with a man on third, and with one man out, Pastornicky hits an RBI single, scoring Ramiro Pena, who had earlier singled, before stopping at third base on left fielder Darin Ruf’s fielding error, making it a 3-1 Phils’ lead. The Phils would get the run back in their half of the third as, with a man on third, and with two men out, Utley, who had earlier doubled, then moved up to third base on Howard’s fly out to center, would score on Young’s infield single to third baseman Chris Johnson, after the ball had been deflected by pitcher Paul Maholm, giving the Phils a 4-1 lead. Two batters later, after Dom Brown took a walk, moving Young up to second base, the Phils’ took a 5-1 lead as Ruf hits an RBI single, knocking in Young, while sending Brown on to third base, before moving up to second base on the late throw to the plate. The Phils then made it a 6-1 lead as Howard hits a lead-off home run, his first home run of the spring. The Phils then increased their lead four batters later as, with runners on the corners, and with one man out, Laynce Nix hits an RBI ground out, 3-unassisted, knocking in Brown, who was safe at first on first baseman Ernesto Mejia’s missed catch error, as Young, who had just walked, was wiped out at second base, 6-4, for the inning’s first out, then reached third base on Ruf’s double, giving the Phil’s a 7-1 lead. The Braves would get a run back in the sixth as, with two men out, Johnson would hit a solo home run, his first home run of the spring, making it a 7-2 Phils’ lead. The Phils got that run back in their half of the sixth as, with a man on second, and with nobody out, Freddy Galvis hits an RBI double, knocking in Revere, who had started the inning off with a double, giving the Phils an 8-1 lead. Two batters later, with a man still on second base, and now with one man out, the Phils took a 10-2 lead as John Mayberry, Jr. hits a two-run home run, his first home run of the spring, knocking in Galvis. The Braves cut the Phils’ lead down to 10-5 in the seventh as, with two men on, via a walk to Todd Cunningham and a single by Pena, moving Cunningham up to second base, and with no one out, Pastornicky hits a three-run bomb, scoring both Cunningham and Pena. That would end up being the final score as Ethan Martin threw two scoreless innings.

Cole Hamels got the win (1-0, 0.00) as he pitched three strong innings, giving up an unearned run on four hits, as he struck out five. Mike Adams pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit, as he struck out a batter. Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk. Jonathan Pettibone pitched two innings, giving up four runs on three hits and a walk, as he struck out a batter. Ethan Martin pitched two scoreless innings, giving up a hit, while striking out one. Paul Maholm took the lost (0-1, 9.64) as he went two and two-thirds innings, giving up five runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out two. Luis Avilan pitched an inning and a third, giving up a hit, while striking out one. Craig Kimbrel pitched an inning, giving up two runs, one of which was earned, on two hits and a walk. Cristhian Martinez pitched an inning, giving up three runs on three hits. David Hale and Alex Wood combined for two scoreless innings, giving up a hit (Wood) and two walks (Wood), while striking out two (one batter each).

The Phils collected thirteen hits in the game, with Ben Revere (Single, Double), Chase Utley (Single, Double), Ryan Howard (Double, Home Run, 2 RBIs), Darin Ruf (Single, Double, RBI) and Freddy Galvis (Single, Double, RBI) each leading the ballclub with two hits apiece. Michael Young (Single, 2 RBIs), Dom Brown (Single, RBI) and John Mayberry, Jr. (Home Run, 2 RBIs), had the other three Phils’ hit. The final Phil run came in on a Braves’ error. The Phils also had five walks in the game (Revere, Mayberry, Young, Brown and Cody Asche).

The Phils (2-3-1)  will play their next spring training game against the Yankees (1-6) tomorrow afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. The game will start at 1:05 pm EST. The Phils will send to the mound Roy Halladay (0-0, 4.50) who is coming off a no-decision against the Tigers on February 24, as he pitched two innings, giving up a run on a hit, as he struck out two, in the Phils’ 5-5 tie with the Tigers. He will be trying to continue showing that last year was just a down year. The Yanks will counter with Hiroki Kuroda (0-0, -.-), who is making his first start of the spring. He will be trying to stop the Yanks’ present slide. The Phils will be going for their second straight win, while hoping that Halladay will continue the starters present series of good starts.