PBR - If there ever were a contest that could turn the Phillies' momentum around, Monday night was it.
Trailing by three entering the final frame, the Phillies manufactured four runs to edge past the Brewers at Citizens Bank Park, 7-6. Ty Wigginton drilled a sacrifice fly to left allowing Erik Kratz to slide into home head first with the winning run.
The victory was the Phillies first this season after trailing through eight innings.
"It's good to see we can rally and come back," manager Charlie Manuel said. "We haven't seen too much of this."
Francisco Rodriguez opened the ninth with a strikeout but allowed the next six batters to reach base. Ryan Howard hit a two-run single up the middle and Carlos Ruiz followed with single liner to right, scoring Chase Utley and tying the game at 6-6. Kratz scored the game-winner after being inserted as a pinch runner for Howard once he reached third base.
The Phillies' bullpen tossed three scoreless innings and Joe Savery notched his first career win.
Rodriguez surrendered three hits and three walks in the ninth, blowing his fifth save of the season.
Up until the ninth, the Brewers appeared to have the game in hand.
Carlos Gomez hit a three-run blast off Roy Halladay in the fourth inning and Randy Wolf surrendered two runs over six strong innings, striking out five.
Halladay struggled, scattering eight hits and six runs over six innings. Since returning from the disabled list on July 17 he's pieced together a 6.55 ERA.
Aramis Ramirez finished with two hits, including an RBI-double in the opening frame. Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first, Howard and Utley each homered to tie the contest at 2-2. The Brewers than scored four unanswered runs until Jimmy Rollins scored on a passed ball in the seventh to trim the deficit.
Howard finished with three hits.
The two clubs resume their three-game set on Tuesday with Cliff Lee scheduled to oppose Zack Greinke.
- Patrick Gordon is the editor of the Philadelphia Baseball Review. Contact him at pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com or @Philabaseball on Twitter.