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  Friday, Apr. 21 7:05pm ET
Abreu, Ashby rally Phillies past Marlins
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

MIAMI (AP) -- When Bobby Abreu plays Florida, he steps it up a notch.

"Abreu kills us. He crushed us last year," Florida manager John Boles said after Abreu went 4-for-4 with a go-ahead home run and a double to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the Marlins 4-3 Friday night.

Andy Ashby
Ashby

Bobby Abreu
Abreu

"We have a plan on how to get Bobby out," Boles said, "but so far he's beaten the plan."

Abreu has six hits in his last six at-bats, increasing his career average against Florida to .365. Last season, he hit .404 (19-for-47) against the Marlins.

"I had a very good game, but the big thing is to win the game," Abreu said.

Abreu scored twice, stole two bases and broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth with his third homer of the season.

"He took some nice swings tonight," Phillies manager Terry Francona said.

Andy Ashby (1-1) allowed one earned run, struck out three and walked three in his 19th complete game, his first since last July 4 against Colorado. With runners at first and second in the ninth, he retired pinch-hitter Mark Smith on a game-ending grounder.

Vladimir Nunez (0-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in seven innings.

Florida scored all its runs in the second. Paul Bako hit an RBI single and a run scored when Ashby threw wildly to first for an error on Mark Kotsay's comebacker. Alex Gonzalez's sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

Philadelphia closed within a run in the third on Scott Rolen's RBI double and Rico Brogna's run-scoring grounder, then tried the game in the fourth on Doug Glanville's RBI single.

Brant Brown doubled for Florida leading off the seventh and was sacrificed to third by Kotsay, but Gonzalez and Cliff Floyd grounded out.

Game notes
Umpires called the teams back from the dugouts after changing a call that had seemed to end the Phillies' eighth. With one out and Mickey Morandini on first, Desi Relaford hit a liner off pitcher Ricky Bones. The ball was caught in the air by Gonzalez, who threw to first. The original ruling was that the ball had never hit the ground and that Morandini was doubled up. After the Marlins left the field and a lengthy discussion between the umpires and Philadelphia manager Terry Francona, it was ruled that the ball did hit the ground and that the throw to first retired Relaford. Television replays seemed to clearly indicate that the ball hit the ground. Andy Ashby then hit an inning-ending grounder. ... Brogna bruised his right knee when hit by a Nunez pitch in the first. He left in the sixth, and X-rays were negative. "It smoked him," Francona said. "I was kind of surprised that he lasted that long." ... Florida 2B Chris Clapinski picked up Relaford's grounder off the glove of a diving Kevin Millar at first, and threw to Nunez at first for the out.

 


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