Jhoan Duran wasted no time proving Phillies finally found their missing piece

After Friday night's victory, the Philadelphia Phillies have leap frogged the New York Mets and now sit alone at the top of the NL East standings by a half game. With the division race between these two teams expected to be tight all the way to season's end, the newly acquired Jhoan Duran has already proven he is ready to make a big impact.

So far this season, Duran has posted an impressive 1.97 ERA through 50.1 innings of work (including last night). This is a huge addition to the back end of the Phillies bullpen who has been known to struggle in high-leverage situations.

Duran exited the Philadelphia bullpen on the quest to complete his first save with the Phillies. Duran was dealt to the Phillies at the trade deadline in exchange for Mick Abel and Eduardo Tait.

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Jhoan Duran tosses four pitch inning for save in Phillies debut

On Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, the Philadelphia Phillies took a 5-4 lead over the Detroit Tigersinto the top of the ninth inning. The stadium light shut off. The song EL Incomprendidoby Farruke came through the stadium speakers as the crowd roared with anticipation.

The closer hyped up the Phillies faithful just to show them how quick he can take care of business in high-leverage situations. In fact, his adventure from the bullpen to the mound may have taken longer than his ninth inning frame.

The only way that Duran could have been any more efficent on Friday would be if he had thrown one less pitch. It only took him four pitches to to retire three dangerous Tigers hitters in a one run game.

Duran induced a ground ball from pinch hitter Colt Keith, retired Spencer Torkelson on a pop-up to first base and capped it off with a Riley Greene line out to left field.

While some Phillies fans may have wanted to see Duran miss more bats, he displayed near triple digit velocity with movement and for the most part, avoided barrels. Sure, strikeouts are more exciting but how can you argue with a four pitch save?