PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies used to play home games in a decrepit old cigar box of a ballpark called the Baker Bowl. In 1927, the bleachers down the right-field line collapsed on rotting timber.
Baker Bowl dimensions ran a scant 280 feet down the right-field line, 300 to right-center, 341 to left.
Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies’ 21st-century home, plays a little sturdier with steel, but it’s a similar band box. The walls crunch in on the outfield like a trash compactor.
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The Rockies are taking advantage. A day earlier, they airmailed three home runs in a three-run victory.
Saturday, they bombed some more — Nolan Arenado, Michael McKenry and Ben Paulsen hit solo homers in the Rockies’ 5-2 victory over the Phillies.
The suddenly surging Rockies won their sixth game out of seven. They locked up a second series win in a row on a six-game road trip, with one game to play here. It is Colorado’s first series win in Philadelphia since 2004.
“The two homers early were big,” manager Walt Weiss said. “It let us play out front. When you hit the ball out of the park and get good starting pitching, you’re usually in good shape.”
While the Colorado hitters looked like sluggers again Saturday in Philadelphia’s small yard, it was another impressive performance from a Rockies starting pitcher that propped them up.
Eddie Butler needed only 78 pitches to get through 22 batters in six innings. After Ryan Howard doubled home Chase Utley for a run in the first inning, Butler retired 15 of the next 18 hitters he faced.
“Attacked the zone, got early contact, let the guys make some plays,” Butler said. “And then our guys scored some runs. They were hitting the ball around the park.”
Butler struck out Carlos Ruiz to end the second inning and got groundball outs on Howard and speedy Ben Revere to end the third and fifth. After he scampered to first for an assist to put out Howard in the sixth, Butler left with just four hits against him and one run. He struck out three and walked one. He forced 11 of 18 outs on groundballs.
“We wanted to attack guys with the sinker. It worked out,” Butler said. “We got a lot of groundballs, let the infield have some fun.”
Aaron Harang, his counterpart with the Phillies, pitched to one more batter than Butler did. But he needed 109 pitches.
Butler, for the first time in his young career, pitched at least six innings in back-to-back starts.
And it was the second quality start for the Rockies on consecutive days. Chad Bettis, a call-up from the minor leagues two weeks ago, flirted with a perfect game Friday before allowing just two hits in eight innings. He was helped by two solo homers from Troy Tulowitzki and a two-run shot from Paulsen.
Paulsen homered again Saturday afternoon, a 421-foot shot that banked off the front of the second deck in right field. Arenado hit his team-leading 11th home run on a 2-2 pitch off Harang in the second. McKenry followed two hitters later with another homer.
Arenado continued his torrid pace, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs. In his past six games, the Gold Glove third baseman is hitting 11-for-24 (.458) with four home runs and 12 RBIs.
But starting pitching, most surprisingly, has goosed the Rockies. In their past seven games — at hitter-friendly parks in Denver, Cincinnati and Philadelphia — Colorado’s starters have a 2.55 ERA, with 26 strikeouts and just 10 walks.
“You get good starting pitching, the rest of the game tends to fall into place,” Weiss said. “It’s all about the starting pitcher setting the tone. And it’s no coincidence that we’re winning more games.”
