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Lee has another stellar outing for Phillies

Aug 20, 2009 - 2:44 AM By ROB MAADDI AP Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA(AP) -- Cliff Lee keeps finding ways to outdo his previous performance.

Lee pitched a two-hitter, carrying a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 Wednesday night.

"I don't know how special it is," Lee said about his latest stellar effort. "It's me doing what I expect to do every time I go out to the mound. I expect to put up a zero every inning."

Jayson Werth hit a pair of solo homers, Ryan Howard hit a three-run shot and Chase Utley also connected for the NL East-leading Phillies, who've won seven of eight. Philadelphia is a season-high 19 games over .500 at 68-49.

Lee (4-0) allowed an unearned run and tied a career high with 11 strikeouts to record his 12th career complete game and fifth this season. The left-hander had no walks, though he hit one batter. Lee has been nearly unhittable since coming to the Phillies in a blockbuster trade with Cleveland last month. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner has an 0.82 ERA and two complete games in four starts for his new team.

"Lee dominated us all night," Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch said. "He was filling up the strike zone with good stuff."

Lee didn't allow a hit until pinch-hitter Chad Tracy lined a single to center with one out in the sixth. In his debut with the Phillies on July 31, Lee had a no-hit bid broken up at the same point by San Francisco's Juan Uribe.

"It if it ever happens, I'll be happy about it," Lee said about pitching a no-hitter. "But I'm not concerned about it."

The Phillies roughed up All-Star right-hander Dan Haren (12-8), who had his worst outing of the year. Haren allowed a season-high six runs in five innings. He's given up five or more runs in three of his last four starts.

Utley put the Phillies ahead 2-0 when he connected in the third. After Shane Victorino walked, Utley drove Haren's next pitch into Philadelphia's bullpen in right-center field for his 25th homer.

Howard ripped an opposite-field shot to left-center to make it 5-1 in the fifth. It was his 31st homer and fifth in six games.

"I almost put Howard away, one pitch away," Haren said. "But I tried to go up and away with a fastball and he made me pay for it."

Werth crushed the next pitch off the ivy covering the brick batter's eye beyond the center-field wall. Werth took reliever Juan Gutierrez deep to right in the seventh.

The Phillies have four players with 25 homers: Howard, Werth (27), Raul Ibanez (27) and Utley.

Lee retired the first nine batters before Ryan Roberts led off the fourth with a grounder that skipped past third baseman Pedro Feliz for an error. Roberts advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Stephen Drew's sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Lee, who went 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA in 22 starts for the Indians this season, won his seven straight start since a loss at Detroit on July 10. He appreciates the run support he's getting in Philadelphia.

"This is a potent offense," Lee said. "There's no denying that. Any time you get a four, five-run lead, it's pretty good."

NOTES: C Paul Bako has been behind the plate for all of Lee's starts, but manager Charlie Manuel won't call him Lee's personal catcher. ... Ibanez is batting .239 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 31 games since coming off the disabled list. Before he was sidelined with a groin injury, Ibanez was batting .312 and he was second in the NL in homers (22) and RBIs (59). ... Lee had two hits for the second time with the Phillies. ... Haren's ERA has risen from 1.96 to 2.74 in his last six starts. ... Werth has seven career multihomer games, including two this season.