Philadelphia, PA – John Mayberry homered and knocked in three runs as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals, 4-2, in the second of three games at Citizens Bank Park.
Chase Utley added an RBI and a run scored for the Phillies, who have won three straight.
Roy Halladay (8-7) allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out six over a seven-inning start. Jonathan Papelbon tossed a perfect ninth to record his 29th save of the season.
Gio Gonzalez (16-7) surrendered three runs on five hits and two walks through six innings to take the loss for Washington, which has dropped its last three games.
"Gio just had trouble getting the ball over early," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "He was dominant after the first inning."
Philadelphia jumped out to an early lead in its first at-bat after Jimmy Rollins worked a leadoff walk and came home on back-to-back singles by Kevin Frandsen and Utley.
Frandsen and Utley advanced to second and third on Ryan Howard's grounder to first before Mayberry plated Frandsen with an infield single on a high chopper to short. Utley would be stranded at third, though, as Erik Kratz struck out and Juan Pierre lined out to short.
Washington tied the game in the fifth inning after loading the bases with one out on three straight singles by Roger Bernadina, Danny Espinosa and Kurt Suzuki.
Following Gonzalez's grounder to second that Utley threw home for the force out, Steve Lombardozzi lined a base hit into center field to plate Espinosa and Suzuki, who slid home safely just before Mayberry's throw reached the plate.
Bryce Harper grounded out to first to end the inning and keep it a 2-2 game.
The Phillies would leave a runner on second in the home fifth before regaining the lead in the sixth inning on Mayberry's leadoff blast into the left-field bleachers.
"Leading off the inning, I just wanted to get something started, just trying to get a good pitch to hit and put it in play hard," Mayberry said. "I was able to get one out of there."
Halladay would then strand the tying run on third in the seventh inning before Philadelphia added to its lead in the eighth when Utley was hit by a pitch, stole second and third, and came home on a Mayberry sacrifice fly to right field.
Game Notes
Gonzalez had his three-start win streak snapped and fell to 2-1 in three career starts against the Phillies ... Halladay improved to 12-2 in 18 appearances (17 starts) against the Nationals ... Philadelphia leads the season series between the teams, 6-5.
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