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Rollins, Phillies avoid history with walk-off win

Jul 22, 2012 - 10:57 PM

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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's been over 40 years since the Philadelphia Phillies had lost eight in a row at home.

Thanks to Jimmy Rollins, it will stay that way for a little while longer.

Mired in a seven-game home slump, Rollins lined an RBI single in the 12th inning to lift the Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the Giants in the conclusion of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

Philadelphia has endured a season many would wish to forget, and its third seven-game losing streak at its nine-year-old ballpark is now in the history books. Rollins' hit helped snap a three-game losing streak overall.

"It was good to end that streak," Rollins said. "More importantly, it's a (win). Any (win) we can get is going to help us down the stretch."

John Mayberry Jr. hit a pair of home runs for the second time in his career, and Chase Utley had an RBI triple in the opening inning. Kyle Kendrick (4-8) received the win for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Nate Schierholtz hit two home runs as well for the Giants, who were aiming for their first sweep of the Phillies since 2004. Brad Penny (0-1) took the loss after Barry Zito allowed three runs in a seven-inning start.

"It was a pretty good (road) trip," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "They battled hard the whole trip, and we had a lot of tight games, and this one got away from us."

The Phillies' run in the 12th was almost necessary had Kendrick not prevented the Giants from scoring in the top of the inning.

Brandon Crawford doubled to lead off, and San Francisco had a chance to go ahead without a base hit. Kendrick, though, struck out Brandon Belt and Emmanuel Burriss before getting Ryan Theriot to fly out to end the threat.

Ty Wigginton nearly ended it with a shot to the warning track in the home half, but Schierholtz had room to make a jumping grab. Carlos Ruiz followed with a walk and moved to third on Laynce Nix's single before Rollins lined the first pitch he saw into center.

Schierholtz led off the game with a homer against Joe Blanton, who lasted eight innings for the second consecutive start. Blanton gave up three runs on seven hits and a walk for Philadelphia.

The Phillies came back to tie the game quickly on Utley's triple, and the teams traded runs again in the fourth.

Pablo Sandoval followed a Buster Posey single with a double off the wall in center for a 2-1 Giants lead, but Mayberry hit a two-out homer to tie the game.

Mayberry led off the seventh with another homer to give the Phillies their first lead, but Schierholtz made it 3-3 with a two-out shot in the eighth.

Game Notes

Nix was playing his first game since May 9 after missing more than two months with a calf injury...Mayberry recorded his second career multi-homer game, while Schierholtz had his third and second of the season...The last eight-game home losing streak for the Phillies was a 10-gamer from May 16-June 6, 1972. Their longest skid at home is 13 games in 1944...Philadelphia is now 3-9 in extra innings, having lost its last five such games before Sunday.






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