SAN DIEGO _ Maikel Franco stabbed the bouncer toward third and immediately knew he had a chance. He scampered four steps to third base and fired to second, where Cesar Hernandez waited. Hernandez, without shuffling his feet, threw to beat Padres outfielder Jabari Blash by a half step at first. It was pristine baseball, the sort of play from schoolyard dreams.
A 5-4-3 triple play.
The Phillies won, 6-5, and it did not feel secure Sunday until the seventh inning when they turned their first triple play in seven years to preserve a tenuous lead. Jerad Eickhoff surrendered a sizable lead, Tommy Joseph put his team back ahead with a pinch-hit single, and Edubray Ramos somehow survived two walks to begin the seventh.
Ramos pumped his fist as Joseph snatched Hernandez's throw to complete the triple play. Not since Eric Bruntlett's memorable unassisted triple play to end the game on Aug. 23, 2009, had the Phillies turned one. It was the 32nd triple play in team history.
Their last 5-4-3 triple play came in 2007, when Abraham Nunez, Chase Utley, and Wes Helms combined for the rare feat.
On Sunday, Blash chopped a Ramos slider into the dirt in front of home plate. Franco's first step allowed the triple play to happen. He was positioned closer than normal to the bag, his reaction quick. The slugging third baseman is not the fleetest of foot, but the Phillies have always valued his defensive instincts.
The whole play took less than five seconds.
The rest was easy. Hector Neris struck out the side in the eighth. Jeanmar Gomez recorded his 29th save with a clean ninth inning.
Before the triple play, contributions from the bottom of the order masked another so-so Eickhoff start. He wilted in the sixth inning.
Eickhoff, like most young pitchers, has trouble when facing a lineup for the third time in a game. The opposition's OPS when facing Eickhoff for the first time is .664. It decreases to .635 the second time through the order. But the third time through, hitters have a .932 OPS against Eickhoff.
His ERA in the sixth inning is 11.57. The Padres dinged him for three sixth-inning runs, capped by Ryan Schimpf's fly-ball homer to right. It traveled just 330 feet. An exasperated Aaron Altherr put his arms in the air, shocked that the ball sailed over the fence.
But an inning later, the triple play atoned for everything before it.
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