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Chad Billingsley shuts down his former team in win

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Chad Billingsley (38) throws to first for an out against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium. (Richard Mackson/USA Today)
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Chad Billingsley (38) throws to first for an out against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium. (Richard Mackson/USA Today)Read more

LOS ANGELES - This weekend, the Dodgers media relations staff sent out a memo more than 48 hours ahead of time to let everyone know that former long-time Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins would have pregame press availability on Monday, before the first of four games this week between the two teams at Chavez Ravine.

Meanwhile, Chad Billingsley, who had been in the Dodger organization for more than a decade prior to the 2015 season, checked into his old home ballpark and quietly went about his business on Monday. He would get an opportunity to reintroduce himself to the good folks at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, in his fifth start of a season in which he's trying to resurrect his career after two separate elbow surgeries since 2012.

"Six or seven is a good number for me tonight," manager Pete Mackanin said before the game. "And there's no reason to believe he can't do it. We just want to see him do it."

Entering Tuesday, the Phillies had seen their starting pitcher deliver at least six innings in just 5 of the their previous 20 games.

"I think he should be (ready)," Mackanin said. "He's pitched enough now that I expect better of him. Hopefully he'll deliver."

Billingsley made good on his manager's optimism.

Billingsley, a former Dodgers first-round pick and All-Star, held his old team to two runs on six hits and got plenty of support from his teammates in the Phillies 7-2 win.

The victory was just the second for the Phillies (29-57) in their last nine games. It was the 30-year-old Billingsley's first win since April 10, 2013 - just weeks before the first of two elbow surgeries that kept him out of the game for the rest of that season and 2014, too.

"It's been a long road," Billingsley said. "I was pretty excited to be back out there today and be in a familiar atmosphere. It was a lot of emotions. I just pitched well and the guys gave me a run in the first inning, got a little comfortable and just made some pitches when I needed to. It was a fun day."

Billingsley was one out away from taking a shutout into the seventh inning on Tuesday. Dodgers catcher Yasmami Grandal snapped that bid with a two-run home run, his second in as many nights against the Phillies.

But Billingsley was otherwise a revelation for a Phillies rotation that took a major league-worst 5.29 ERA into the night, a 6.79 ERA since June 1, and a cast of misfits so unsuited for the big leagues that two starters were jettisoned off the roster in the 24 hours between the first two games of the series.

Billingsley, who entered the night with a 7.71 ERA in four starts this season, held his old teammates to two runs on six hits; he struck out three and walked one.

"He probably felt comfortable here," Mackanin said of Billingsley's return to Dodger Stadium. "That was the kind of performance we were hoping to get out of Billingsley, and it's only his second start since the rehab, so we're really happy with that. He probably could have gone back out there, but I didn't want anything to spoil a positive outing for him."

It's the second time this season that Billingsley has pitched at least six innings and allowed two runs. In his other three starts, he's allowed at least five runs in five innings.

So what's the best step on his comeback trail, in trying to string a few productive starts together going forward?

"I mean the main thing for me is just getting out there every fifth day, getting in that routine of pitching every five days," said Billingsley, whose return this season was even briefly stunted by a six-week stay on the disabled list with a strain right shoulder. "Just (being) a baseball player again. I haven't done that a whole lot. That's the main thing out there and just continue to get comfortable and get guys out."

Billingsley received both early offense and defense from his teammates on Tuesday.

Domonic Brown recorded assists in each of the game's first two innings, helping Billingsley keep his pitch count at a manageable 32 pitches and giving him the opportunity to pitch deeper into the game, something the Mackanin desperately needed with a bullpen overworked as a result of the recent, dreadful starting pitching.

On the offensive end, all eight position players batting in front of Billingsley in the lineup had at least one hit. Freddy Galvis hit a bases-loaded infield single to put the Phillies in front 1-0 in the first inning. Two innings later, Jeff Francoeur hit a two-run double.

Francoeur finished the night 2-for-5 with a home runs and three RBI.

"More than anything I was so pumped for Chad," Francoeur said after the game. "I know how it is. When I went back to Atlanta the first few times and how nervous I was. To think that his whole career was here, so for him to come out and do the things he did tonight was huge."

Like Francoeur, Ben Revere (2-for-4) also had two hits, and knocked in two, too. Revere has hit safely in seven straight games and is batting .335 in his last 45 games.