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Victorino, Moyer lead Phillies past Tigers

Jun 17, 2007 - 4:40 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Jamie Moyer was due for a win. Shane Victorino helped make sure he got one.

Victorino went 3-for-5 with a homer and Moyer tossed seven solid innings for just his second victory in seven starts as the Philadelphia Phillies posted a 6-3 triumph over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

Just 1-3 since topping Arizona on May 9, Moyer (6-5) came through with a strong effort against Detroit to improve his lifetime record vs. the Tigers to 11-7. The veteran lefthander - who retired the final 11 batters he faced - yielded just two runs and four hits, striking out four without a walk.

"Playing against the Tigers, you know you're in for a good game," Moyer said. "They swing the bats well. They have a bunch of professional hitters. Not only can they hit the ball out of the ballpark, but they can move the ball around the ballpark. That's why they're a very successful team offensively."

With 222 career victories, Moyer tied Jerry Koosman for 15th place among lefthanded starters.

"(Moyer) absolutely amazes me," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "For him to be as strong as he is right now at 44 years old, I think that's tremendous. I've said a lot about him, but believe me, I could be talking about him this time next year, he's that special."

Victorino played a major role in the win, recording his seventh three-hit game of the season. The Hawaiian got the Phillies on the scoreboard in the first inning, belting the first pitch he saw from Tigers rookie Andrew Miller over the left field wall for his career-high seventh homer of the season and a 1-0 advantage.

"I knew (Miller) was around the dish," Victorino said. "He likes to get ahead early. I know he had a lot of velocity. I saw him a couple of times this spring, so I kind of had an idea of what he had from watching footage on him. I just wanted to put a good swing on the ball, and that's the bottom line."

With the game even at 2-2, Victorino led off the fifth with a single and moved to second on a one-out grounder by Ryan Howard before scoring on Aaron Rowand's single to center field. He also contributed to a rally in the sixth, singling with two on and one out before Chase Utley made it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly.

Philadelphia had a chance to add to its lead in the first as Utley followed Victorino's homer with a ground-rule double, Howard walked and Rowand was hit by a pitch. But Miller avoided further damage by getting Pat Burrell to pop up and Abraham Nunez to look at a third strike.

The Tigers wasted little time making the Phillies pay, as Carlos Guillen led off the second with his ninth blast of the campaign, forging a 1-1 tie. Detroit moved ahead an inning later, when Curtis Granderson launched a 3-2 offering from Moyer into the seats in right field with one out for his ninth homer.

Philadelphia continued the battle of solo shots in its half of the frame as Rowand deposited a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall with two outs, knotting the game at 2-2.

"I was trying to keep the ball down," Miller said. "I didn't do too good of a job of doing that. The ball that Rowand hit was up and out over the zone."

Carlos Ruiz delivered an RBI double in the seventh for a 5-2 bulge and Howard added another run for the Phillies with a two-base hit in the eighth. Philadelphia rallied with none on and two outs on each occasion.

"Twice in the late innings, they had two out, nobody on and they scored," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "That just can't happen."

The extra runs proved crucial as the Tigers brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth against Antonio Alfonseca. Granderson opened the inning with an infield single and former Phillie Placido Polanco plated him with a double into the right-center field gap.

"With (Detroit), you need every run you can get," Howard said. "Their offense is so explosive. There's no telling when they're gonna break out and score four or five runs."

After a groundout by Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez singled, putting runners on the corners. Ordonez took second uncontested and Guillen worked the count to 3-0, but Alfonseca came back to strike him out and got Ivan Rodriguez on a grounder to second, sealing the victory.

"It got interesting, but (Alfonseca) did the job," Manuel said.

Detroit's first-round pick in 2006, Miller (2-1) surrendered four runs - three earned - seven hits and three walks in six innings. The 22-year-old lefthander struck out six but uncorked a wild pitch and hit two batters.

"(Miller) did fine. There's some crudeness there yet," Leyland said. "That's the just the way it is. He's just a baby, come on. One year out of college. I was very impressed with him. He kept his composure pretty good."