AP News
(2010-07-24 02:11:36)
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Philadelphia Phillies gave new hitting coach Greg Gross a welcome boost when they exploded for a five run fifth inning to ease past the Colorado Rockies 6-0 on Friday.
Gross replaced Milt Thompson as hitting coach on Thursday, and the team, who had been mired in a hitting slump, responded.
Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco and Raul Ibanez all scored in the fifth before Ross Gload completed the inning's scoring, when he smashed a two-run home run into the bullpen to chase Rockies starter Aaron Cook, who gave up five runs on nine hits and three walks while striking out two in 4.1 innings.
Rollins scored again in eighth, driven in by Ibanez, who went 3-for-5, while starting pitcher Roy Halladay pitched eight shutout innings to improve to 11-8, allowing just five hits and one walk while striking out nine.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
