page_title: 2010 Philadelphia Phillies season
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Philadelphia Phillies season / Regular season / August
caption_attribution_description: Carlos Ruiz
context_page_description: The Philadelphia Phillies' 2010 season was the 128th season in the history of the franchise. As the two-time defending National League champion—having appeared in the 2008 and 2009 World Series—the Phillies won their fourth consecutive National League East championship, and also finished with the best record in baseball. After sweeping the Cincinnati Reds in the NLDS, however, the team lost to the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS.
context_section_description: In their first August game, the Phillies avoided being swept by Washington with a 6–4 extra-inning victory; Howard was lost to a sprained ankle in the game, but the Phillies scored two runs against Collin Balester in the top of the 11th inning and Lidge earned his 11th save. Howard's ankle injury sent him to the disabled list on August 3; John Mayberry Jr. was called up in his place. The next night, Halladay batted in two runs and struck out nine hitters over seven innings to notch a 6–1 victory in his first return to the location of his perfect game; Ruiz added four hits, and Francisco had a solo home run. The second game of the series marked a third straight Phillies victory, as Brown backed Kendrick's two-run effort with three runs batted in and an outfield assist to put out Marlins first baseman Gaby Sánchez at home plate. Philadelphia won its 60th game of the season in extra innings on a Ruiz home run in the top of the 10th; Lidge earned his 12th save as the Phillies swept the Marlins to climb to 12 games over .500. The Mets visited Citizens Bank Park for a three-game series starting on August 6; the Phillies defeated the Mets, 7–5, after scoring six runs in the eighth inning. New York evened the series with a 1–0 victory to hand Hamels his eighth loss of the season despite 11 strikeouts, but Philadelphia took the series with a 6–5 win in Sunday's rubber match; Ibáñez extended his career-long hitting streak to 16 games, while Halladay struck out ten batters in seven innings.
  August 10 saw the Dodgers arriving in Philadelphia for a three-game series; despite Brown's first career home run and two from Gload, Kendrick allowed 6 runs in ​3 ¹⁄₃ innings, and six pitchers from the bullpen allowed nine more to seal the Phillies' 50th loss of the year, 15–9. The offensive outbursts by both teams were followed by a pitcher's duel on August 11—Chad Billingsley allowed two runs in six innings of work, but Oswalt scattered five hits and struck out five in seven shutout innings to pick up his first victory as a Phillie; he was followed by Madson and then Lidge, who earned his 15th save with a perfect ninth inning. In the rubber match, the Dodgers scored three runs in the top of the first inning, and led 9–2 by the eighth inning, but Philadelphia scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth, and another four runs in the bottom of the ninth on only one hit, a walk-off RBI double by Ruiz after a hit batter and two walks by Jonathan Broxton and an error by Casey Blake at third base. It was Ruiz' third double against Broxton in three career at-bats. Another series against the Mets at Citi Field yielded the same results as the prior one; Dickey and Hamels engaged in a pitcher's duel in the first game, which the Mets won, 1–0, after the knuckleballer threw a one-hit shutout. In the second game, Halladay turned the tables with an eight-inning shutout performance after the Phillies scored three unearned runs due to an error by third baseman David Wright, snapping a 38-inning scoreless streak at the Mets' home field. Although the Mets filled their line-up with left-handed batters, who had batted .330 through August 14 against Kendrick, he defeated Pelfrey in the final game of the series, 3–1, to seal the Phillies' third consecutive series win by pitching ​6 ²⁄₃ innings and allowing one run. In the next series, the Giants visited Citizens Bank Park to open a ten-game Philadelphia homestand; former Phillie Pat Burrell hit a home run in the first inning against Oswalt, but the Phillies won, 9–3, behind a two-run single from Rollins and a two-run double from Ruiz. It was Oswalt's first 2010 victory against the Giants; he had faced Lincecum in each of his first three starts against San Francisco, and he sported an 0–3 record with a 3.15 earned run average. Rollins led the Phillies to a second consecutive victory the following night, going 3-for-5 and falling a double short of the cycle in an 8–2 victory. Assured of the series win, the Phillies tried for a three-game sweep in their 100th consecutive sellout, but Hamels allowed three runs in the 
caption: Carlos Ruiz had four hits, including a home run, on August 3, and walked off against the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 12.
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