AP – Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins (11) is greeted by teammates after scoring on a triple by Ben Francisco … SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres finally managed to score some runs.
It wasn't enough to get them a win, though.
Ryan Howard hit a two-run, opposite-field double to left field with two outs in the 11th inning and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the struggling Padres 4-2 on Saturday night.
The NL East-leading Phillies have won the first three games of this series, with reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay scheduled to start Sunday's finale. Overall, the Phillies have won 10 straight and 14 of 15 at Petco Park since the 2008 season. The Phillies shut out the Padres in the first two games.
Placido Polanco hit a leadoff single off Chad Qualls (0-2) to start the rally, was sacrificed by Shane Victorino and took third on Peter Orr's groundout. Padres manager Bud Black chose to intentionally walk Jimmy Rollins ahead of Howard, who had struck out in each of his first four at-bats, and then bring in lefty reliever Cory Luebke to face the lefty slugger.
Howard hit a ball to deep left that Ryan Ludwick couldn't get his glove on.
Kyle Kendrick (1-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the win. Ryan Madson pitched the 11th for his second save in as many chances.
The Padres had a runner on first with two outs in the 11th when Brad Hawpe flied out to left to end the game. Hawpe's average dropped to .104.
"Hitting is contagious," Hawpe said, "whether you're going good or going bad. And right now, I've got the bug."
The Padres scored their first run in 22 innings when Cameron Maybin singled off Joe Blanton leading off the first and came around on Jason Bartlett's triple to right-center. The Padres failed to add on, though. Orlando Hudson walked and Bartlett was caught in a rundown when Nick Hundley grounded back to Blanton. That put runners on second and third with one out. Hudson was held at third on Jorge Cantu's fly ball to right and Ludwick struck out to end the inning.
"You have to make plays throughout the game," Black said. "You have to get some hits. It doesn't come down to one or two plays. That's what everyone keys on, but we just didn't do enough offensively. We pitched well enough to win this game, but we didn't win. They got the hit at the end and we didn't get enough hitting throughout the course of the game."
The Phillies tied it when Ben Francisco tripled to right-center with two outs in the fourth to bring in Rollins, who was aboard on a walk. Maybin, the center fielder, tried to make a diving catch but missed it by 2 feet.
The Padres regained the lead on Hundley's double down the left-field line that brought in Maybin, aboard on a leadoff single.
Philadelphia's Orr reached on a double down the right-field line with one out in the sixth. Umpire Mike DiMuro hesitated for a moment before ruling it fair. Orr then scored on Rollins' single to center.
Blanton allowed two runs on eight hits in seven innings, struck out three and walked two.
San Diego's Tim Stauffer went six, allowing two runs and four hits while tying his career high with seven strikeouts. He walked one.
"I was just a little upset how that last inning unfolded," Stauffer said of the sixth. "After scoring a run, I was hoping to go out there and put up a zero. Just a couple of hits that found the right places."
Notes: The four-game homestand concludes Sunday when Halladay is scheduled to face LHP Wade LeBlanc, who is being brought up from Triple-A Tucson.
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