Through two innings on Tuesday, the Padres appeared to be riding the wave of Monday night's dramatic victory on their way to another win. One big swing changed that.
Domonic Brown went 15 games without a home run after a torrid May. Not only was his first home run in two weeks timely, it was enough to erase an early deficit and put the Phillies in front.
Brown's three-run homer in the third counted for three of the six Phillies' runs and Brown's four RBI on the night, as the Phillies erased a gut-wrenching loss on Monday with a 6-2 win on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Kyle Kendrick ran into one rough inning in the second. The Padres struck for two runs, one on an RBI groundout by Alexi Amarista and the other on an RBI single by Pedro Ciriaco.
Brown saved an inning for the Phillies in the third. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard both struck out, sandwiching a walk by Jimmy Rollins and a single by Michael Young. With their first run of the night waiting on third, Brown needed a hit to bring him home. He drove home three, mashing a 2-0 fastball to deep right-center for his 20th home run of the season.
Brown would key another Phillies' run in the fifth. He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out following a pair of hits from Rollins and Utley and a four-pitch walk to Howard. He too walked on four pitches, bringing home Rollins.
Utley would score on a wild pitch and John Mayberry Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Howard in another three-run inning.
That was all the offense Kyle Kendrick needed. He worked quickly through the middle innings, needing just 26 pitches to throw innings three, four and five. He worked around baserunners in the sixth and seventh before recording a perfect eighth.
He finished after throwing 104 pitches, pitching eight innings allowing two runs on seven hits. He struck out six and didn't walk a batter.
Antonio Bastardo came on to finish the job. Despite allowing a pair of hits, he ended the game with a pair of strikeouts.
The Phillies improved to 37-41 with the win and snapped a two-game losing streak. They can claim the series in Wednesday night's finale at Petco Park. Cole Hamels gets the start against Robbie Erlin.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Philliedelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
