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Phillies win wild one over Marlins

Apr 28, 2007 - 6:12 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Florida Marlins are trying to find the answer at the back end of their bullpen. At least for one night, the answers were not Taylor Tankersley or Randy Messenger.

Tankersley allowed two eighth-inning homers and Messenger failed to record an out in the ninth as the Marlins dropped a 6-5 decision to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the eighth on solo homers by Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley off Tankersley, who came into the game having allowed only one run in 4 2/3 innings this season.

"They were both sliders," Tankersley said. "They were both down the middle of the plate, hittable pitches. Two good hitters know what to do with them. I didn't do my job today."

After Florida tied it in the ninth against closer Tom Gordon, Philadelphia loaded the bases with none out vs. Messenger (0-1) in the bottom of the frame. Michael Bourn came home with the winning run on Carlos Ruiz's infield single.

"We just didn't do it the last two innings," Messenger said. "We should've won this game tonight. I'm just at a loss for words right now."

"It was definitely a team win," Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand said. "Everybody contributed to the game tonight, big hits at the right time. We battled all game, they jumped ahead of us and we did not give up."

The Marlins traded starter Yusmeiro Petit to the Arizona Diamondbacks a day before the start of the regular season for reliever Jorge Julio, but after seven ineffective outings, he was placed on the disabled list with a strained calf.

The Phillies, who also are not known for their bullpen prowess, got two solid innings from Brett Myers and another by Ryan Madson.

"I feel comfortable with him (Myers)," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "I think he has stuff that when he gets somebody on he can definitely pitch out of it. I think the more he pitches the better he will get. This is a role he has to get used to. I said that when we put him there. I think he will definitely work real good in the back end of our bullpen."

However, Gordon (1-1) surrendered the tying run in the ninth. The veteran righthander yielded a leadoff double by Mike Jacobs, and pinch runner Eric Reed came around to score the tying run on Cody Ross' double.

Miguel Cabrera opened the scoring with a solo homer off Philadelphia starter Freddy Garcia with two outs in the first inning.

The Phillies stormed back in the bottom of the second, when Rowand extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a leadoff blast off Anibal Sanchez deep into the left field stands to forge a 1-1 tie. Sanchez then issued a walk to Wes Helms, who advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Ruiz, who also threw out two runners attempting to steal, gave Philadelphia the lead with an RBI double and advanced to third on Sanchez's second wild pitch of the inning. Garcia followed with a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 3-1.

Jacobs' solo blast to deep right in the third pulled the Marlins within one run. Jacobs went 4-for-4, his third career four-hit game.

"It's always nice to have a good game and swing the bat well when you haven't played in five days," Jacobs said. "That's always nice but, it's a game we could've and probably should've won today. Tough, tough loss for us tonight."

Garcia retired six of the next seven batters he faced before running into trouble with two outs in the fifth. The burly righthander, who was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in the offseason, surrendered a double to deep center by Jacobs before hitting Josh Willingham and walking Ross to load the bases.

Antonio Alfonseca, who began his career with the Marlins, came on in relief and immediately yielded a single by Miguel Olivo, which tied the contest. Florida took the lead when Alfredo Amezaga drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Ross.

The comeback gave the Phillies six wins in their last seven games after a disappointing 4-11 start.

"(April) did not start off the way we wanted it to," Utley said. "We are playing better baseball right now. We are pitching better and hitting better so we have to continue to keep it up."