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Utley homers to power Phillies past Pirates

Aug 11, 2008 - 1:03 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Chase Utley ended a personal drought at just the right time.

Utley hit his 29th home run to cap a three-run seventh inning and rally the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the rubber game of a three-game series Sunday.

Philadelphia (64-53) moved two games ahead of the second-place New York Mets (62-55) in the National League East.

"We still have a lot of games to play, but we're right where we want to be," Utley said.

The Phillies were trailing, 3-2, in the seventh, but quickly tied the game against Tyler Yates (4-3) on two doubles by Carlos Ruiz and pinch hitter Greg Dobbs to start the frame.

"(Dobbs) has been outstanding," Utley said. "He makes it look too easy at times, but he's a huge part of our success this year."

Dobbs' RBI double was his major league-leading 21st pinch-hit of the season, setting an all-time Phillies single-season record.

"To tie that ballgame up right there was big for us," Dobbs said. "To be in the record books in this great organization is a great honor for me. I never would have thought that I'd be in any record book."

Yates retired the next two batters before Utley stepped to the plate and drove a 1-1 pitch into the right field seats for a two-run home run and a 5-3 Philadelphia lead.

"I'm just trying to put the ball in play, try to hit the ball hard," Utley said. "Yates is tough. He throws hard. He's got a hard slider. He makes it tough on opposing hitters."

Utley had struggled throughout the six-game homestand and was 3-for-19 prior to the homer. It was the first home run hit by the Phillies in their last four games.

"I'm not worried about Chase's hitting," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "Not at all."

Utley also atoned for hitting into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the fifth.

"I was a little frustrated at the time," Utley said. "Obviously, I didn't want to hit into a double play. We swung the bats well late in the game. That's all that matters."

Philadelphia added an unearned run in the eighth on a passed ball by Ryan Doumit.

Scott Eyre (3-0) faced only one batter in his first appearance for Philadelphia to get the win. Ryan Madson worked a scoreless ninth to earn his first save.

The Pirates wasted a quality outing from Jason Davis, a journeyman righthander who was making his first start since July 4, 2005. He pitched six innings and allowed two runs - both unearned - and four hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Pittsburgh's defense did not help Davis by committing three errors.

"We didn't really play very well," Pirates manager John Russell said. "We gave them three runs where they didn't get a hit. It was unfortunate we gave up the three runs late."

Pittsburgh used consecutive two-out doubles off Jamie Moyer in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Brandon Moss doubled to deep right and scored when Doug Mientkiewicz grounded a two-base hit down the line in right.

Davis was part of a bizarre sequence in the third that saw Philadelphia go in front with two unearned runs. After issuing a leadoff walk to Ruiz, Davis fielded Moyer's sacrifice attempt but collided with catcher Doumit, causing him to throw wildly past first base.

"I bunted. I expected they were gonna make a good throw and they didn't," Moyer said.

Moyer gave his team and the fans some levity when he bowled over first base umpire Randy Marsh while running toward second base.

"When I turned to go to second base, Randy was right there," Moyer said. "I really had nowhere to go. I just talked to him to see if he was OK. He said he was watching the ball as well."

On the play, right fielder Jason Michaels threw the ball away at second in an attempt to cut off Moyer, allowing Ruiz to score the tying run while Moyer went to third. Moyer then scored on Jimmy Rollins' sacrifice fly to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Michaels, a former Phillie, regained the lead for the Pirates with a two-out, two-run double in the sixth.

Moyer went six innings and allowed three runs and seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

The start of the game was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 47 minutes.