Moyer pitches Phils past Tribe
6/23/2010PHILADELPHIA - Jamie Moyer shrugged it off. Nothing was going to bother him on this night.
Moyer tied the record for most homers allowed by surrendering his 505th longball but that was his only blemish in eight crisp innings as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cleveland Indians 2-1 Tuesday.
Russell Branyan went deep for Cleveland in the second, hitting a long drive to the second deck in right that left Moyer tied with former Phillies great Robin Roberts for most homers allowed all-time.
Ho-hum. Just a small blip in another crafty game by the 47-year-old left-hander.
"If you're around long enough stuff like this happens," Moyer said. "I always had a lot of respect for Robin."
Moyer (8-6) limited the Tribe to just two hits while earning win
No. 266, tying him with Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 35th on the career list.
The soft-tossing veteran recorded 14 of his 24 outs on ground balls and has pitched at least eight innings in three of his last four starts, winning three of them.
"We didn't take good swings off Moyer and he flat-out toyed with us," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "It's amazing what he's doing at his age at this level."
J.C. Romero relieved Moyer for the ninth but was replaced by Brad Lidge after the Indians put runners on first and second with one out. Lidge then struck out Austin Kearns and Jhonny Peralta, completing the three-hitter and earning his fifth save in six tries.
Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel grew testy when asked after the game after his bullpen use, stating firmly that Lidge is the closer.
Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins came off the disabled list and went 0 for 4 in the leadoff spot. Rollins has been hampered by an injured right calf.
"Jimmy did pretty good," Manuel said. "He made a couple of good plays in the field. Of course, he can hit better."
Mitch Talbot (7-6), coming off the worst start of his career, allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings for Cleveland.
The rookie right-hander was tagged for eight runs and 13 hits over 5 2-3 innings in his last outing, an 8-4 loss to the Mets last Wednesday.
"I thought Mitch did a very good job," Acta said. "He made a lot of good pitches when he had to."
Philadelphia, which managed just four hits for the second straight game, got both of its runs in the first. Ryan Howard singled in Placido Polanco and Jayson Werth drove in Chase Utley with a sacrifice fly to center.
Trevor Crowe reached on an infield single in the sixth and Shin-Soo Choo singled in the ninth for Cleveland's other hits.
The Phillies almost had another run in the fourth but Raul Ibanez was called for interfering with Indians shortstop Anderson Hernandez on a double-play attempt. Shane Victorino beat Hernandez's throw to first and Werth crossed the plate, but second base umpire Sam Holbrook called Ibanez out for leaving the basepath, ending the inning.
Manuel came out to argue and was ejected.
"That was a weak call," Manuel said. "I think (Holbrook) should've let us play the game. He said Raul didn't hit the bag."
Rollins, a three-time Gold Glove winner, had a solid night in the field, including making a superb play on Kearns' second-inning grounder. He sprinted hard to his left to get the ball up the middle, wheeled and made a strong throw to first that beat Kearns by a step.
NOTES: Philadelphia placed c Carlos Ruiz on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Saturday with a concussion. Ruiz was hit in the head by Jason Kubel's broken bat in Friday's game against Minnesota. The Phillies also recalled left-handed reliever Mike Zagurski from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and sent right-hander Scott Mathieson down. ... Cleveland recalled right-handed reliever Joe Smith from Triple-A Columbus. He replaces left-hander David Huff, who was optioned to Columbus on Monday.
/AP-CS-06-22-10 2309EDT