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Halladay returns to form as Phils top D-backs

Aug 5, 2012 - 3:03 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - In the midst of the longest losing streak of his career, Roy Halladay snapped the three-game slide with his best outing this season.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner tossed seven shutout innings as the Phillies downed the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-0, in the middle test of a three- game set.

Halladay (5-6) fanned five, scattered three hits and walked one in his first win since May 17. He had a 7.20 ERA in five outings during the skid, his second three-game losing streak this season. It's the first time in his career that he's had two such slides in the same year.

"He had better arm strength tonight," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Halladay, who returned in July after a two-month stint on the disabled list with a strained lat muscle.

"The last two games I feel like things are going in the right direction, there's some things we've been changing and to be able to get results after you're making changes like that, you feel like you're going back to normal," Halladay said.

Philadelphia improved to 13-20 in starts made by Halladay and Cliff Lee this season, a year after the tandem went 46-18 in their 2011 starts.

Joe Saunders (5-8) surrendered two runs on six hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings for Arizona, which had won 11 of 14 coming in.

"We were kind of anxious early on," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "When maybe he (Halladay) was struggling a little bit. A couple of the upcounts we had, we didn't swing at good pitches. Then he got in a groove and it's really hard to get to him when he gets going in his groove."

Prior to the game, the Phillies placed catcher Carlos Ruiz on the 15-day disabled list with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. He is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. The 33-year-old Panamanian backstop had been enjoying a career year, hitting .335 with 14 home runs, 28 doubles and 58 RBI in 95 games

His replacement, Erik Kratz, smacked a solo homer onto the flower bed in left to get the Phillies on the board in the third and his bases-loaded walk in the fourth gave the home team a 2-0 lead.

"Kratz had some real good at-bats," Manuel said.

The D-backs didn't move a baserunner past second base until the sixth, when Stephen Drew hit a one-out double and moved to third on a passed ball. But Halladay struck out Jason Kubel and Paul Goldschmidt grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.

Philadelphia added an insurance run in the eighth on Domonic Brown's RBI single to make it 3-0 and Jonathan Papelbon fired a scoreless ninth to notch his 24th save of the year.

Game Notes

Jimmy Rollins moved into sole possession of third place on the franchise's games played list with 1,740...It's the second time Ruiz has visited the DL this season, after a stint away from the team in late June for an oblique strain. To fill his roster spot, the Phils recalled infielder Hector Luna from Triple-A Lehigh Valley...The Phillies have won 10 of their last 12 games against the D-backs at home...Philadelphia moved to 39-33 in weekday games this year...The Phillies' last shutout came on Sept. 5 of last year.