Cole Hamels Pitches Two-Hitter, Phillies Win

Cole Hamels hasn’t been too impressive this season. After leading the Philadelphia Phillies to the 2009 World Series championship, the lefty hasn’t looked like a champion this season. However, on Tuesday Hamels snapped out of his funk and led the Phillies to a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Pitching all nine innings, Hamels gave up only two hits and one walk while striking out nine batters. It was his best start of the season and evened his record at 8-8 in addition to lowering his ERA to 4.26. Considering that he was 0-3 in August with a 4.91 ERA, this was quite a turnaround.

Providing the offense for the Phillies was — who else? — Ryan Howard. The big first baseman was 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the fourth inning. That lone RBI was all Hamels needed.

For the Giants, Jonathan Sanchez wasn’t half bad, either. In six innings, the native of Puerto Rico gave up only three hits and one earned run while striking out eight.