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Utley, Howard homer as Phillies top Rangers

Jun 29, 2008 - 4:26 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each homered and the Philadelphia Phillies held on for an 8-6 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

Jayson Werth added a pair of RBI for the Phillies, who evened the interleague series at one game apiece with just their second win in the last 10 games.

Utley, who entered the contest with a .197 average (15-for-76) and one home run in the last 20 games, finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles. His 23rd home run of the season ties him with Florida's Dan Uggla for the major league lead.

After Werth's two-run single and Pedro Feliz scored on a wild pitch to give Philadelphia a 3-2 lead in the second, Utley and Howard made sure the lead held up in the third.

"Our offense is centered around Howard, Utley and (Jimmy) Rollins. We've got to have them hit to win and all three got good hits tonight," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said.

With one out, Utley drove a 1-2 pitch from Rangers starter Vicente Padilla into the right field seats for a solo blast. Padilla then walked Pat Burrell before Howard's 20th homer of the season pushed the lead to 6-2.

Entering Saturday, the Phillies were hitting only .184 over their previous nine contests.

"We were able to string some hits together tonight," Howard said. "Seven runs last night and eight tonight, that's a good sign that we're getting the bats going. The team had just gone into a lull all at the same time and now we're just trying to get out of it."

Cole Hamels (8-5) picked up the win for the Phillies, striking out eight while allowing four runs and six hits in seven frames.

"It's hard giving up two runs in the first inning and having the offense coming into the dugout already behind," Hamels said, "but the team battled back and I was able to stop them while we put up some runs. I want to be this team's go-to guy."

The Rangers got two runs back in the fifth, but Rollins tripled in a run in the sixth and Utley doubled in another in the seventh to make it 8-4.

Padilla (10-4), who entered on a three-start winning streak, was charged with seven runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out two in six frames.

"It wasn't one of his (Padilla's) better nights," Rangers manager Ron Washington said, "but he fought hard. It's not always the pitcher, sometimes it's the guy in the batters' box. They're just a good hitting team."

Trailing, 8-4, in the eighth, the Rangers pushed a pair of runs across and had the bases loaded before J.C. Romero struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia to end the threat.

Brad Lidge struck out Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley with runners on first and third in the ninth to earn his 19th save.