Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit 400-foot homers in the third inning and the Philadelphia Phillies held on for an 8-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on a rainy Saturday night. After Utley hit a 418-foot shot into the Rangers’ bullpen in right-center field and Pat Burrell drew a walk, Howard hit a blast that landed in the second deck of seats above the bullpen for a 6-2 lead. Both homers came off Vicente Padilla (10-4), who was denied by his former team of matching the American League lead for victories. The right-hander was 8-1 his previous 11 starts and had won three in a row. Left-hander Cole Hamels (8-5) struck out eight over seven innings for the NL East-leading Phillies, who won for only the second time in 10 games but still had a two-game lead over Florida. Brad Lidge worked a scoreless ninth for his 19th save. He gave up a pair of hits before ending the game with consecutive strikeouts of Josh Hamilton, the major league RBIs leader, and AL batting leader Milton Bradley. The game was never stopped, despite lightning that prompted stadium officials to warn fans in the upper sections about the dangers of the weather, and rain that fell for the final five innings. There was a heavy downpour while the Rangers batted in the sixth. Jimmy Rollins was thrown out at the plate trying for an inside-the-park homer in the sixth, after his liner ricocheted off the angled wall in right-center and past Hamilton. Rollins never slowed down, b ...
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Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit 400-foot homers in the third inning and the Philadelphia Phillies held on for an 8-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on a rainy Saturday night. After Utley hit a 418-foot shot into the Rangers’ bullpen in right-center field and Pat Burrell drew a walk, Howard hit a blast that landed in the second deck of seats above the bullpen for a 6-2 lead. Both homers came off Vicente Padilla (10-4), who was denied by his former team of matching the American League lead for victories. The right-hander was 8-1 his previous 11 starts and had won three in a row. Left-hander Cole Hamels (8-5) struck out eight over seven innings for the NL East-leading Phillies, who won for only the second time in 10 games but still had a two-game lead over Florida. Brad Lidge worked a scoreless ninth for his 19th save. He gave up a pair of hits before ending the game with consecutive strikeouts of Josh Hamilton, the major league RBIs leader, and AL batting leader Milton Bradley. The game was never stopped, despite lightning that prompted stadium officials to warn fans in the upper sections about the dangers of the weather, and rain that fell for the final five innings. There was a heavy downpour while the Rangers batted in the sixth. Jimmy Rollins was thrown out at the plate trying for an inside-the-park homer in the sixth, after his liner ricocheted off the angled wall in right-center and past Hamilton. Rollins never slowed down, b ...