• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Phils edge Dodgers, tie Padres for wild card lead

Aug 22, 2007 - 3:58 AM By Mike Luongo PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - While Kyle Kendrick eventually found his groove, Brett Tomko lost his and eventually the game as the Philadelphia Phillies went on to post a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday.

Kendrick picked up his first loss of the season at Los Angeles on July 17 and looked like he was headed for the same fate early in this one.

The righthander surrendered two runs in the first on a double by Andre Either and a single by Luis Gonzalez.

Russell Martin hit his 15th home run in the second to make it 3-0. But Kendrick settled down and did not give up another run until the seventh when he surrendered a home run to right to James Loney.

"A couple of balls just found a hole," Kendrick said. "I just had to bear down and keep the team in the game. It was nice to get a win tonight."

Kendrick (6-3) allowed four runs and seven hits with two walks in 6 2/3 innings. J.C. Romero got the final out of the seventh and Tom Gordon pitched a perfect eighth before Brett Myers came on in the ninth to record his 12th save.

"This team has got that edge," Myers said. "The teams that have been here in the past four years haven't really had that edge. It just seems that the will to win is here more this year than it has been in the past."

The shot by Loney cut the Philadelphia lead to 5-4 as Tomko squandered his early lead. After he retired the first six batters he faced, Tomko ran into trouble in the third.

Jason Werth led off with a single and scored on a double by Carlos Ruiz. Two batters later Jimmy Rollins drove in Ruiz with a sacrifice fly to center to cut the Dodger lead to 3-2.

Tomko (2-11) had more problems in the fourth as Ryan Howard led off with a double. Aaron Rowand hit a two-run home run to give Philadelphia their first lead of the game at 4-2.

"Somehow all you do is keep fighting," Howard said. "The only thing that you can do is keep yourself in the game and give yourself a chance to win. That's what we've been doing and take advantage of it as much as possible."

"They pieced together some hits and scored some runs," Tomko said. "Rowand hit a two-run homer and the last inning. I got myself in a jam and didn't get out of it."

Tomko loaded the bases in the fifth on a pair of singles and an error on third baseman Shea Hillenbrand, then he gave up a bases-loaded walk to Pat Burrell.

"I thought that one of them was a strike," Tomko said. "I've still got to make a pitch after that if the count is 3-2 with the bases loaded. In my eyes of those pitches was a strike. He (home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth) called them balls. He makes the calls and decisions and I was walking off the field."

Mark Hendrickson came on to get Ryan Howard on a pop up to short. He then struck Aaron Rowand and got pinch hitter Wes Helms to fly to right.

The win pulled the Phillies (66-58) into a tie with the San Diego Padres in the race for the National League wild card berth. The Padres lost, 7-6, to the New York Mets on Tuesday night.

"It's a very big win," Rollins said. "The way everything is lined up right now, if we win, we gain on somebody. It doesn't mater against who, the point is to get a game. Now, we're tied for the wild card lead. It's better to be tied for first than to be behind everybody."