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Giles gets save as Phils win for 9th time in 10 games

TORONTO - Just more than an hour after the Phillies officially announced that they had traded Jonathan Papelbon, the Ken Giles era officially began.

Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard (6) and Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Darin Ruf (18) celebrate after scoring two runs during the fifth inning in a game against theToronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. (Nick Turchiaro/USA Today)
Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard (6) and Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Darin Ruf (18) celebrate after scoring two runs during the fifth inning in a game against theToronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. (Nick Turchiaro/USA Today)Read more

TORONTO - Just more than an hour after the Phillies officially announced that they had traded Jonathan Papelbon, the Ken Giles era officially began.

Giles, the hard-throwing 24-year-old righthander, earned his first save of the season as the team's ninth-inning man in the Phillies' 3-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre. The Phillies' ninth win in 10 games marks their best start to the second half of the season since 1970.

A win Wednesday would tie their season-long winning streak of six set in May.

"I wish him all the best of luck and hopefully we'll all cross paths once again and I'll see how he's doing then," Giles said, smiling. "But being a closer feels great. It's a once-in-a-lifetime dream for me to be a closer. Now it's my opportunity to show what I've got."

Giles, formerly the team's set-up man, said he did just "an OK job" in his first save opportunity of the season. Edwin Encarnacion led off the frame with a single on a full-count slider before Giles retired Chris Colabello, Russell Martin, and Danny Valencia in order. "100-Mile Giles" surpassed 100 m.p.h. on two of his fastballs to Encarnacion.

Giles said he began to get "a little nervous" once the Phillies' three-run fifth gave them a one-run lead: Cody Asche smacked a two-run double and Andres Blanco followed it up with a run-scoring double. Jeanmar Gomez and Luis Garcia bridged the gap to Giles after Adam Morgan delivered six more-than-solid innings in his sixth major-league start.

"The first one's always the hardest," Giles said. "Even though I did it last year, I was way more nervous in this one because I was 'the guy.' I needed to get three outs to conserve that win. The eighth inning is way different. All I have to do is conserve that lead or come out with the tie. For a closer, you just want to go 1-2-3, shut them down, let's go home."

Giles, who debuted in the majors last June, thanked Papelbon for his tutelage.

"I can't thank him enough for just guiding me through 'the way of the closer,' " Giles said.

"I think I'm going to be a great closer."