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Howard, Phillies hang on to beat Cardinals

Sep 18, 2007 - 5:17 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- A day after completing a weekend sweep of the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies nearly blew all of their momentum in St. Louis on Monday.

Ryan Howard hit two home runs and had five RBI, but the Phillies barely hung on to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 13-11, at Busch Stadium.

"You try to score as many runs as you can and tonight we needed that," Howard said. "You look at it as a playoff-type atmosphere. These kind of games when they come down to the wire you have to be ready to play."

Aaron Rowand also homered twice and Jimmy Rollins hit a three-run blast for the Phillies, who opened an 11-0 lead before winning their fifth straight.

"You have to win games like that," Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick said. "It was nice to get the win and for us to keep the streak going. We came out on top tonight. We're in a tight race right now and we need to win games."

With the win, the Phillies (81-69) moved to within 2 1/2 games of the Mets (83-66) in the National League East. The Phillies are also just 1 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres (82-67) in the wild card race. San Diego defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.

"You have to keep pushing and plugging away," Rowand said. "There's no room for getting too angry or worried. You have to be focused on what you have to do. Everybody has a job to do out there."

The Cardinals scored three runs in the sixth inning, six runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to nearly complete the comeback.

Francisco Rosario allowed a walk and a single in the bottom of the ninth, but ended up striking out Russell Branyan to end the game and earn his first career save.

Kendrick (9-4), who was coming off a career-low three innings pitched in a 12-0 loss against Colorado on Wednesday, pitched six innings and gave up three runs and seven hits.

Howard got Philadelphia on the board to lead off the top of the second inning with a solo blast to left field. Rowand connected for a two-run shot in the top of the fourth to make the score, 3-0, and Rollins blasted a two-out, three-run homer later in the inning to give the Phillies a 6-0 lead.

Howard gave the Phillies an 11-0 lead with his fifth career grand slam in the top of the sixth inning. The homer also gave the slugger at least 40 home runs for the second consecutive season.

Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run homer and Albert Pujols had three RBI for St. Louis, which has lost 11 of its past 12 games. The Cardinals, who were just one game out of first place in the NL Central on September 6, have now dropped virtually out of playoff contention.

"It's a great 'almost'," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "It looked like we were going to have a really tough night, but the guys that came in started lighting it up. We had a real shot to pull that one out."

St. Louis starter Brad Thompson (6-6), who was making just his second start since July 28, lasted just 3 1/3 innings and gave up four runs and four hits.

"It's one of those games where I went out there and threw a couple of innings and it was over before it really even begun for me," Thompson said. "We're at point right now where we have to win ball games. It's frustrating on my end."

The defending World Series champions also announced that outfielder Chris Duncan will have hernia surgery on Thursday, which will officially end his season.