• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lohse sharp as Phillies stay in playoff hunt

Sep 27, 2007 - 4:46 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Kyle Lohse gave the Philadelphia Phillies a desperately needed quality start.

Lohse pitched seven strong innings and Greg Dobbs had a key two-run single as the Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves, 5-2, at Citizens Bank Park in the second game of a three-game set on Wednesday night.

The win pulled the Phillies (86-72) to within one game of the slumping New York Mets (87-71) for first place in National League East Division, as the Washington Nationals completed a three-game sweep of the Mets with a 9-6 win at Shea Stadium.

With the Phillies using a patchwork pitching rotation, the starters have had trouble going deep into games recently. In this contest, Lohse (9-12) allowed two runs and six hits while striking out five without a walk.

"To be able to go out there and get the strong, quality outing that we needed feels good," Lohse said. "We've got a lot of heart in here. I guess it was my turn to pick them up."

Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless eighth, while Brett Myers closed out the ninth for his 20th save.

Since being acquired from Cincinnati on July 30, Lohse has gone 3-0 in 11 starts with the Phillies with eight no-decisions. While he lasted only two innings and gave up six runs in his last outing against Washington, the Phillies improved to 9-2 in his starts.

"It was kind of dead there in Cincinnati," Lohse said. "Obviously, we weren't gonna be in this kind of a situation. To be able to come over here and jump in with this group and do the things I'm able to do now is a good way to finish off the year."

Count Braves manager Bobby Cox among those who saw Lohse's ability.

"I like Lohse," Cox said. "I think he's got really good stuff. Great changeup, good breaking ball. He throws plenty hard. I don't know what the knock was on him in Cincinnati."

Jimmy Rollins got the Phillies started in the first inning, when he hit a liner to right-center field that ended up being a triple after Andruw Jones was unable to make a diving catch.

Two outs later, Ryan Howard grounded an RBI single to center to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.

"I was just looking for something up," Howard said. "I saw them playing the shift, so I wanted to shoot something up the middle and not try to do too much."

The Phillies then took advantage of a costly two-out error by Chipper Jones to score three unearned runs in the third inning.

Braves starter Tim Hudson (16-10) had just issued an intentional walk to Howard to put runners on first and second when Aaron Rowand grounded Hudson's next pitch to Chipper Jones. The third baseman attempted to tag Chase Utley coming in from second and missed, then threw wildly past first for a two-base error to make it 2-0.

"Obviously, (Philadelphia) scoring three runs after my error propelled them to a win tonight," Chipper Jones said.

"I haven't seen Chipper throw a ball away in, I can't remember when - ever," Cox said. "He's got the best, (most) accurate arm you ever want to see. He tried to tag the runner first. That may have thrown his approach (off) to throwing the ball away at first."

Dobbs followed with a two-run single to center that doubled the Phillies' advantage.

"You've got to pounce on what you're given," Dobbs said. "We knew we had our work cut out facing Hudson, arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball. Runs against Hudson are very hard to come by."

Mark Teixeira got the Braves on the board with a two-run home run in the fourth to cut their deficit to 4-2. It was the 16th blast of the season as a Brave and second in as many games for Teixeira, who was acquired from Texas at the July trade deadline.

The Phillies knocked Hudson out of the game in the seventh, an inning in which pinch hitter Shane Victorino led off with a homer to make it 5-2.

"Whatever opportunity you get and help this team win, it's exciting to hit a home run in a situation like that," Victorino said.

Hudson was lifted after Rollins singled, and relievers Royce Ring and Peter Moylan ended the threat for Atlanta.

"It seems like the last few times I've pitched against these guys, I feel like I should have had a shutout against them," Hudson said. "And I look out there and we've given up three, four, five runs."

Hudson went six-plus innings and allowed five runs - two earned - and eight hits while striking out five and walking one. The 32-year-old righthander has lost five of his last six decisions.