SPORTS

Fan's words fuel Rollins' walk-off homer

By Martin Frank
The News Journal
  • Pettibone goes five innings in first start of season
  • Stanton homers twice for Miami

PHILADELPHIA – Jimmy Rollins got some unexpected motivation during his at-bat in the 10th inning when a fan seated near the Phillies dugout was constantly chirping at him.

Rollins said he wanted to tell the fan off right then and there. Instead, he got angry. A few pitches later, on a 2-and-2 count, Rollins hit a game-ending home run to left field, sending the Phillies to a 5-4 win over the Miami Marlins.

As soon as he hit it, Rollins looked in the direction of the fan, and, "I very politely told him to shut the 'F' up."

Rollins didn't know exactly where the fan was seated, "so the whole section got it," he said, before adding: "He was close enough to yell and piss me off, honestly."

When asked what the fan said, Rollins responded, "Something pretty ignorant. But it worked ... It worked. [The fan] did his job."

It was Rollins' second career walk-off home run, with the other coming in June 2010 against Cleveland.

This one came while he was batting right-handed against lefty Dan Jennings. He sent the pitch high and deep into the left-field stands. After he rounded the bases, he was met by a throng of teammates celebrating the Phillies' second straight win after losing four in a row. The Phillies improved to 5-6 while the Marlins dropped their sixth in a row after starting out 5-1.

But Rollins wouldn't have gotten a chance for the extra-inning heroics if not for an overturned call on a replay review that Rollins initiated. The play came in the second inning after Marcell Ozuna was ruled safe at second on Giancarlo Stanton's hard grounder up the middle that Chase Utley stopped and flipped to Rollins at second.

Two runs scored on the play. But Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said he saw Rollins' reaction to the call, ran out to the field and used his challenge. After a review, Ozuna was ruled out and the runs did not count.

Had the play stood, Stanton would have had five RBIs after he later homered twice, knocking in three runs.

"When it happened, I knew I beat him to the bag," Rollins said. "You could see it happen in front of you. … He kicked my foot, and that's a pretty good indication that he's not on the bag."

Before this season, the call would have stood and the Marlins would have taken a 3-2 lead, and the game would never have reached extra innings.

That wasn't lost on Sandberg.

"Normally that would be a play that would be a huge play in the game," Sandberg said. "It worked in our favor. … It was one we were definitely going to challenge and I thought we were going to win."

That changed the complexion of the game for Jonathan Pettibone, who was making his first start of the season for the Phillies because it was the first time they needed a fifth starter. He was hit hard but mostly avoided trouble because some of those lined shots were hit right at Phillies outfielders. He left the game after five innings, allowing eight hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out five.

One of those runs was a mammoth homer by Stanton, his first of the night. The ball traveled over the seats in left-center field and landed on Ashburn Alley. The distance was estimated at 470 feet, one of the longest in the 10 years of Citizens Bank Park.

Still, Pettibone left with a 4-2 lead, in part because the Phillies got on the board quickly. Tony Gwynn Jr., playing a second straight game in place of Ben Revere, led off the first inning by doubling off the wall in right. Rollins singled him in and Utley followed with an RBI double.

The Marlins got a run back in the second when Ryan Howard couldn't hold Rollins' throw from short with the bases loaded. That would have been the third out. Instead, a run scored, the bases were still loaded and Stanton was up.

The replay bailed out the Phillies in that instance. It seemed insignificant when the Phillies scored twice more in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead on Utley's RBI double and Howard's run-scoring single. But Stanton hit his two homers, and the game was tied.

Then a fan chirped at Rollins, and just like that, the Phillies had a victory.

"It looked like he had one thing in mind, and that was not to play any more extra innings," Sandberg said.

A fan gave him the necessary motivation to make sure of it.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com.