Phillies Offense Sparks Against Leake, Reds in Series Opener.

Final: Reds 5, Phillies 12.

WP: Roy Halladay (7-7, 3.95 ERA) LP: Mike Leake (5-8, 4.59 ERA)

Update 10:20 pm: Phillies place LHP Jeremy Horst on paternity leave list, recall RHP Phillippe Aumont from Lehigh Valley (AAA).

Both teams didn't waste much time to score their first runs of the four-game series at Citizens Bank Park. After Roy Halladay had a shaky top of the first inning, allowing four consecutive hits and two runs, the Phillies immediately retailiated in the bottom half.

With one out recorded, Juan Pierre hit his eighth double of the season, and soon thereafter stole third base, his 30th bag in 2012. Swiping two tonight, Pierre is now in 20th place on the all-time MLB steals list with 585, one shy of Maury Wills in 19th place. After Chase Utley lined out sharpy to second baseman Brandon Phillips, Ryan Howard delievered with a clutch, two-out RBI single to bring Pierre home and shrink the deficit to one. Two innings later in the bottom of the third, Ryan tied the game at two runs a piece with his eighth home run of the season, 293rd of his career. Erik Kratz then, in the bottom of the fourth, broke the tie with his seventh home run of 2012 to left center field.

Trailing five runs to three in the bottom of the fifth, Chase Utley picked up his 22nd RBI of the season on a line drive to left field, scoring Juan Pierre from first. After Ryan Howard was intentionally walked, John Mayberry Jr. tied the game at five with a RBI single to left field. Continuing the offensive-filled inning, Domonic Brown doubled for the fifth time of the year and gave the Phillies the lead, bringing home two additional runs. That would be all for opposing starter Mike Leake, as he lasted just four and a third innings, allowing 10 hits and seven earned runs.

One frame later for the Phillies, they continued right where they left off. Chase Utley hit a no-out sacrifice fly off of RHP Jose Arredondo, bringing home Jimmy Rollins on third base. A couple of batters later, John Mayberry smacked his 11th home run of the year via a line drive to left field, increasing the Phillies lead to 10-5. In the bottom of the seventh and eighth, they piled-on even more runs, as Juan Pierre brought home Placido Polanco on a RBI single and Erik Kratz hit a sacrifice-fly RBI respectively.

The Phillies' bats scored a total of 12 runs in tonight's game off of 15 hits (10 off of starter Mike Leake). Seven of those 15 hits were extra-base hits. The Fightin's were one run shy of their 2012 season-high of 13 runs produced, when they lost a 15-13 extra-inning game on May 2, 2012 away at Turner Field against the Atlanta Braves.

Roy Halladay didn't quite have a stellar start tonight like the many recent outings we have seen out of the rotation, but he still held down the potent Cincinnati offense well enough to improve his season record to 7 wins and 7 losses a piece. He lasted seven innings, giving up 10 hits and five earned runs while walking one batter and striking out three. 67 of his 97 total pitches were for strikes. The bullpen (Rosenberg, Bastardo, and Lindblom) backed up Halladay effectively, allowing zero runs and just two hits in the two remaining innings of the ball game.

Cliff Lee (2-7) starts in the second game of the series against RHP Homer Bailey (10-8). Bailey is (0-3) with a 5.88 ERA in 26.0 innings pitched against the Phillies in his career. Lee, on the other hand, has a more attractive record against his opponents. In 64.2 career innings pitched against Cincy, Lee is (6-2) with a 4.04 ERA. The game is set to start tomorrow evening at 7:05 pm EST.

Attendance: 44,341 (Sellout).

Starting Pitching Summary:

Mike Leake: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2 HR, 4.59 ERA
Roy Halladay: 7.0 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 3.95 ERA

In the 'Pen:

Cincinnati

Sam LeCure (5th, 6th*): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.53 ERA
Jose Arredondo (6th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 2.74 ERA
Logan Ondrusek (7th, 8th): 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 3.50 ERA

Philadelphia

B.J. Rosenberg (8th): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 12.38 ERA
Antonio Bastardo (8th): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 5.35 ERA
Josh Lindblom (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.69 ERA

*- Indicates zero batters retired in the inning.

Scoring Summary:

Top of the 1st (Reds 1, Phillies 0): Jay Bruce doubles (31) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Domonic Brown. Zack Cozart scores.
Top of the 1st (Reds 2, Phillies 0): Scott Rolen grounds out. Brandon Phillips scores.
Bottom of the 1st (Reds 2, Phillies 1): Ryan Howard singles on a line drive to center fielder Chris Heisey. Juan Pierre scores.
Bottom of the 3rd (Reds 2, Phillies 2): Ryan Howard homers (8) on a fly ball to right field.
Bottom of the 4th (Reds 2, Phillies 3): Erik Kratz homers (7) on a fly ball to left center field.
Top of the 5th (Reds 3, Phillies 3): Chris Heisey doubles (15) on a ground ball to left fielder Juan Pierre. Devin Mesoraco scores.
Top of the 5th (Reds 4, Phillies 3): Jay Bruce singles on a ground ball to right fielder Domonic Brown. Chris Heisey scores.
Top of the 5th (Reds 5, Phillies 3): With Scott Rolen batting, Jay Bruce caught stealing. Brandon Phillips scores.
Bottom of the 5th (Reds 5, Phillies 4): Chase Utley doubles (7) on a line drive to left fielder Xavier Paul. Juan Pierre scores.
Bottom of the 5th (Reds 5, Phillies 5): John Mayberry singles on a line drive to left fielder Xavier Paul. Chase Utley scores.
Bottom of the 5th (Reds 5, Phillies 7): Domonic Brown doubles (5) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Jay Bruce. Ryan Howard, John Mayberry score.
Bottom of the 6th (Reds 5, Phillies 8): Chase Utley out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Xavier Paul. Jimmy Rollins scores.
Bottom of the 6th (Reds 5, Phillies 10): John Mayberry homers (11) on a line drive to left field. Juan Pierre scores.
Bottom of the 7th (Reds 5, Phillies 11): Juan Pierre singles on a ground ball to second baseman Brandon Phillips. Placido Polanco scores.
Bottom of the 8th (Reds 5, Phillies 12): Erik Kratz out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Chris Heisey. John Mayberry scores.