Cole Hamels has strong outing as Phillies down the Pirates

THE CELLPHONE screen was blowing up with messages. The plastic cup beside it was chilled with ice. The wrestling championship belt was in its usual place, hanging along the side.

But standing on its own in the locker stall of Jonathan Robert Papelbon was a reward for not only a successful night's work, but for a career achievement that set the relief pitcher aside from every other player in the 133 years of Philadelphia Phillies baseball.

It was a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. It was Papelbon's gift from his teammates for breaking the franchise's all-time saves record in the Phillies' 3-2 win over the Pirates Wednesday night.

"That's even better than a porterhouse," joked Jeff Francoeur, who played a pivotal role in Papelbon's record save.

"He thrives on his job of getting the last three outs, and, like I heard him say . . . sometimes they're not always pretty, but it takes a special individual to do that role," manager Ryne Sandberg said.

Papelbon moved into sole possession of the saves record, previously held by Jose Mesa, when Francoeur caught a sinking line drive near the rightfield foul line and threw a strike to home plate to nab pinch-runner Steve Lombardozzi, who tagged up and was attempting to tie the game. Carlos Ruiz barely had to move to finish off the walkoff doubleplay at the plate.

The win snapped the team's four-game losing streak and clinched Papelbon's place in Phillies history. It was only fitting that Papelbon, a pro wrestling junkie, earned his record 113th save in a Phillies uniform with that kind of flair. Rob Nenn (Florida, San Francisco) is the only other closer to hold save marks for two ballclubs.

"You know, if there's one way to do it, that's the way to do it," Papelbon said. "Go out in an exciting way. I've always said that a closer is nobody without the people in front of him and the teammates in front of him, so I think tonight was kind of ironic. I don't get that opportunity unless my teammates don't pick me up and make plays behind me."

Said Francoeur: "As an outfielder who likes to throw, you live for that kind of moment, especially because I knew it was Pap's big one for the save."

So he knew he had Lombardozzi the whole time?

"A long time ago here, I let one go and threw it in the stands," Francoeur said. "I'm usually good for one of those a year, and I'm glad it wasn't tonight."

Long before the ninth-inning dramatics, Cole Hamels set the stage. With his fastball still strong, coming in at 93 mph in the seventh inning, Hamels turned and looked back at the pitch count on the rightfield wall as he walked back to the dugout for the final time. He needed only seven pitches to retire the Pirates that inning.

He had just recorded his second straight 1-2-3 inning. He hadn't pitched in the eighth yet in 2015.

But Sandberg deemed that a season-high 115 pitches were enough. He turned the ball over to the one-two punch at the back of his bullpen, Ken Giles and Papelbon.

"He was sharp all the way through," Sandberg said of Hamels. "It was a nice, cool night to pitch, and he had a lot of energy. He was quality right down to the last pitch."

Hamels held the Pirates to only two singles in his first four innings. After giving up two runs in the fifth, Hamels watched his teammates rally back for three in the bottom half, when Francoeur, Cesar Hernandez and Ruiz opened the inning with three straight hits.

The three runs were all Hamels would need. Since the beginning of last season, the Hamels is undefeated (10-0) when the Phillies score at least three runs while he's in a game. Hamels entered last night's start with a major league-low run support average of 1.9 runs per start.

"Once we got the three runs, it looked like he turned it up a notch," Sandberg said. "It's nice for him to have run support. I think the last game it was a similar thing. We took the lead and he really attacked the hitters. Once again, he really pounded it inside off the plate, setting it up inside part of the plate. He looked real aggressive out there."

The 31-year-old lefthander held Pittsburgh to two runs on five hits in seven innings, while striking out nine and walking one. Hamels has a 3.13 ERA in seven starts since losing on Opening Day.

"I'm trying to get there; I'm trying to establish strikes early," Hamels said. "It's the step in the right direction I've been trying to work on for the past couple weeks."

After surrendering seven home runs in his first three starts, Hamels has allowed only one in his last five.

"Improvement," Hamels said with a laugh. "A lot of those home runs were fastballs. And that was an indication that I needed to work on something, and really establish the pitch a little further down in the zone. I just tried to work through it."

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese