Galvis shines to back Lee's strong outing

PHILADELPHIA -- Freddy Galvis is trying to prove to the Phillies he belongs in the big leagues on a full-time basis.

He started his season on the Opening Day roster, but with too few plate appearances, the Phillies optioned him June 27 to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He helped make a case for himself in Wednesday night's 4-2 victory over the Padres at Citizens Bank Park.

He went 3-for-3 with a double, home run and two RBIs. He scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and bunted to score an insurance run on a safety squeeze in the eighth.

"I'm just trying to play hard every day," Galvis said. "I'm trying to help the team win. If it's good, it's good. If not, you have to keep working the next day to try to do it."

Since the Phillies recalled him from Lehigh Valley, he is hitting .348 (8-for-23) with one double, two home runs and four RBIs in six games.

"That's his game; situational guy," Phillies interim manager Ryne Sandberg said. "He handles the bat. Good hit-and-run guy. A safety squeeze right there. He battled the pitcher good on outside soft stuff. He's a thinking guy at home plate. He's thinking with the pitcher. He got an inside fastball and turned on that with the short stroke for the home run. Those are the type of things Freddy can do."

Galvis helped Cliff Lee improve to 13-6. Lee threw well in eight innings, allowing five hits, two runs, one walk and striking out nine. Lee allowed a solo home run to Padres rookie Tommy Medica in the fifth inning and another to Jeff Gyorko in the sixth.

Lee, who turned 35 last month, has thrown eight innings in four of his past six starts.

"I feel young, maybe I'm getting gray in my beard, I don't know, but I still feel young," he said. "It's a young man's game. I guess I'm getting up there. I'm 35 now, but I still feel young. My body feels good. I don't know, [Jamie] Moyer pitched until he was 50. I don't think I'm going to do that, but I take pride in what I do. I try to work hard in the offseason to prepare for a long year, and I'm going to keep doing that until I'm done."

Galvis answered Medica's shot in the fifth. He ripped a 3-2 fastball from Padres left-hander Eric Stults -- the ninth pitch of the at-bat -- over the wall in the left-field corner to tie the game.

It was Galvis' sixth homer of the season.

Galvis has averaged a homer every 28.8 at-bats this season, which puts him ahead of current and former Phillies like John Mayberry (33.4), Delmon Young (34.0), Kevin Frandsen (42.6), Carlos Ruiz (53.0), Michael Young (58.5), Laynce Nix (64.0) and Jimmy Rollins (88.8).

A big question with Galvis is his bat. He has hit .226 with 20 doubles, five triples, nine home runs, 42 RBIs and a .651 OPS in 363 career at-bats. Can he hit enough on a consistent basis to warrant a spot on a big league roster?

"I think so," Sandberg said, "with some adjustments. He's showing it right now. Being a switch-hitter comes into play, to his advantage. So long as he plays the game like he does and situational things, that can go a long way."

Rollins had not homered in 181 plate appearances since July 20 and had homered just once in 361 plate appearances since May 31, when he stepped to the plate in the sixth inning. It has been a remarkable drop in power for Rollins, who has hit 138 home runs as a shortstop from 2006-13. That ranks fourth in baseball behind Hanley Ramirez (159), Troy Tulowitzki (152) and J.J. Hardy (149).

But then Rollins hit a solo homer to left-center field to tie the game.

Galvis keyed the rally that gave the Phillies the lead in the seventh. He doubled to left to start the inning. Mayberry walked and Lee's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third with one out.

Sandberg could have pulled Lee for a pinch-hitter to get that bunt down, but he showed faith in Lee.

"It's National League baseball, if it's late in the game and close game or tie game and you come up with guys on and no outs, they are going to pinch-hit for you a lot," Lee said. "My scenario was more of a bunt situation. It looked like a smart move because I got the bunt down. If I hadn't gotten the bunt down and done something stupid like hit into a double play, it would've looked like a bad move. But I made it look like a really good move."

Cesar Hernandez followed with a ball hit just hard enough to get past Padres pitcher Nick Vincent but slow enough to give Galvis enough time to score on the contact play.

The Phillies had a 3-2 lead.

Galvis' bunt scored Ruiz from third in the eighth to make it a two-run game.