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Ruiz lifts Phillies to another late win over Brewers

May 16, 2007 - 4:57 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Shane Victorino and Brett Myers have quite a teammate in Carlos Ruiz because he took them both off the hook.

Ruiz hit a walk-off home run and the Phillies overcame a pair of late home runs by the Milwaukee Brewers to post a 4-3 victory.

It was the first walk-off homer of Ruiz's career. He hit it off of reliever Derrick Turnbow (1-2), who lost to the Phillies for the second straight night.

"I was looking for a good pitch," Ruiz said. "I knew it was gone. I feel more comfortable (at the plate).

"I made one mistake and (Ruiz) put the bat on it and made me pay for it," Turnbow said. "(The pitch) was down and a little away."

The dramatic homer by Ruiz came after Victorino was thrown out at the plate twice and Myers blew a save for the first time this season. It was also the second straight comeback victory for Philadelphia over Milwaukee after using a six-run eighth inning to win, 8-6, on Monday.

"I think we've got a lot of heart," Myers said. "I think you all are really seeing what all the offseason hype was about. We finally found our heart. We've started to play together as a team and pick each other up like Carlos picked me up tonight."

The Phillies led, 3-1, in the eighth and starter Adam Eaton was cruising. He retired the first two batters of the inning before falling behind Prince Fielder 3-0. Eaton battled back but Fielder drove a 3-2 pitch just inside the right field foul pole to cut the lead to 3-2.

"We had two big home runs but we didn't do much in between," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "We just couldn't get enough hits off Adam Eaton."

Myers (1-2) relieved Eaton and struck out Bill Hall swinging on a 1-2 pitch to end the inning. But Myers did not start the ninth as strongly as he finished the eighth.

Johnny Estrada ripped Myers' first pitch in the ninth into the seats in right-center to tie the game 3-3. Myers eventually got out of the inning and picked up the win after allowing a run and a hit in 1 1/3 innings.

"I wanted to go back out there the next inning, but Ruiz screwed that up for me," Myers joked. "I made a terrible pitch (to Estrada). It was a split. I left it up. It was terrible. I probably overthrew it a little bit."

In his best start of the season, Eaton pitched a season-high 7 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs and four hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

"Command-wise, I think this was my best game," Eaton said. "Even the hits I gave up, I was able to stay ahead (in the count) for the most part."

The Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on a solo home run by Greg Dobbs. Playing first base in place of the injured Ryan Howard, Dobbs drove a 1-1 pitch from Brewers starter Claudio Vargas over the wall in right-center field for his second homer of the season.

"I'm having a lot of fun being in the lineup for the time being while Ryan's out," Dobbs said. "When he gets back, everybody knows he's gonna be back in the lineup, including myself. I have no delusions of playing if he's in the lineup."

Later in the frame, Philadelphia had runners at first and third with no outs but Eaton struck out after failing to get a pair of bunt attempts down and Aaron Rowand hit into an inning-ending double play.

The Phillies were able to tack a run on in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Pat Burrell.

With runners on the corners and one out, Burrell his a ground ball back to Vargas, who threw to second. Chase Utley beat the throw at second and Jimmy Rollins scored while Burrell was thrown out at first.

Vargas allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out two, walked one and threw 58 of his 90 pitches for strikes.

The Brewers were 6-0 in games started by Vargas this season. However, Vargas was 1-3 in 11 starts against the Phillies coming into the contest.

Victorino had a rough night. He misjudged a fly ball by Vargas in the second inning with two outs, allowing Craig Counsell to score and tie the game 1-1. Victorino was thrown out at home by left fielder Geoff Jenkins in the first and by second baseman Rickie Weeks in the eighth.

Rollins had two hits and gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first with a sacrifice fly.

Yost was ejected in top of the fourth inning by plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing balls and strikes.