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Baker, Cantu too much for Phillies

Jul 20, 2008 - 1:42 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies kept battling back after running themselves out of a big inning. However, Kyle Kendrick had little fight in him on the mound.

John Baker homered and drove in four runs and Jorge Cantu collected four hits and two RBI as the Florida Marlins rolled to a 9-5 triumph over the Phillies on Saturday.

Jeremy Hermida and All-Star Dan Uggla also swatted home runs and Cody Ross went 3-for-5 and scored twice for the Marlins (51-46), who have won five of their last seven and pulled within 1.5 games of the first-place Phillies (53-45) in the National League East Division.

Pat Burrell went 3-for-5 with a pair of solo homers and scored three times for Philadelphia, which lost for the second time in seven games. It was the second multi-homer game of the season and 18th career for Burrell, whose 243 blasts ties him with Chuck Klein for third place on the Phillies' all-time list.

"It's too bad we didn't win the game when he had a day like that," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "He's a run producer. He can hit homers and knock runs in. He's better at that than people probably give him credit for."

Philadelphia had a chance for a big inning in the second as Ryan Howard hit a leadoff single and Burrell followed with a double. But Howard immediately broke for the plate on Jayson Werth's grounder to third and easily was thrown out.

Burrell scored the game's first run on Pedro Feliz's grounder to third baseman Cantu, who made an errant throw to first after initially bobbling the ball. Cantu was charged with two errors on the play.

"I (try) to make the plays routine, and one slipped away," Cantu said. "It's part of the game. Two errors on one play. I've never done that before."

But Cantu got the chance to redeem himself right away as he fielded Chris Coste's ground ball and fired home to get Werth for the second out of the frame.

Scott Olsen walked Kendrick to load the bases, but Jimmy Rollins hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Kendrick (8-4) saw the 1-0 lead disappear quickly, hitting leadoff batter Mike Jacobs in the bottom half and allowing a single by Ross before Baker belted his second homer of the season.

"I'm trying to do whatever I can just to contribute," Baker said. "(The homer) feels good, but what feels better is that we won that game against a division rival."

Coste got the Phillies even in the fourth, delivering an RBI double and scoring on Rollins' two-out single, but Ross opened the Marlins' half of the inning with a triple and came home on a base hit by Baker for a 4-3 edge.

The Phillies again tied it in the fifth on Burrell's two-out blast to left field, but Kendrick failed to contain Florida when he returned to the mound, retiring just one of the five batters he faced before being lifted. The righthander was battered for seven runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 frames, walking one and hitting a pair of batters while striking out two.

Hermida led off the frame with his 11th homer and, after a groundout by Cantu, Josh Willingham singled. Uggla, who set an All-Star Game record by committing three errors in Tuesday's contest, followed with a two-run shot, giving the Marlins a 7-4 bulge.

"Hermida led off the inning with a home run that was supposed to be a fastball in but was out over the plate," Kendrick said. "Then (the pitch to) Uggla was supposed to be a sinker away, but it wasn't a good pitch. These guys swing early and often. They obviously want to hit the fastball, so I just tried to make some adjustments and throw more sliders."

Cantu made it 9-4 in the seventh with a two-run single, completing his second four-hit performance of the season.

Burrell hit a leadoff homer in the eighth off Doug Waechter and stepped to the plate as the tying run in the ninth but grounded into a game-ending forceout against Kevin Gregg. Despite his two homers, Burrell was disappointed with his at-bat in the final frame.

"I haven't been driving many in lately," he said. "I definitely had my chances today, especially with the bases loaded (in the ninth). I've got to do a better job, especially with guys on base."

Olsen (6-4) lasted five innings, allowing four runs - three earned - and eight hits. The lefthander walked two without recording a strikeout.

"I'm sure a lot of the guys felt this was a big game for us," said Olsen, who improved to 4-5 lifetime against Philadelphia. "That's the mentality we take into every series. We just try to win series. Our offense did awesome. They did great. You can't ask for anything more."