Phillies blast Cubs behind firsts from Asche, Martin

Philadelphia, PA – Cody Asche and Darin Ruf smacked two-run homers in the Philadelphia Phillies' 12-1 rout of the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Asche registered three hits and scored a pair of runs, while Ruf had two hits and two runs scored the Philadelphia, which had dropped six of its previous seven games coming in.

"We got 14 hits today, and we hit some homers and we hit a lot of balls good," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "It might have been the best we hit all year."

Ethan Martin (1-1) allowed a run on four hits and three walks over five frames to notch his first career win.

Jeff Samardzija (6-11) surrendered nine runs on 11 hits over just 3 1/3 innings for the Cubs, who have dropped six of their last seven games.

"Just didn't have really anything," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of his starter. "Unfortunately it just didn't go that well and hopefully he comes back out because we need some length from our starters soon."

The Phillies jumped out to a 4-0 lead after plating two in the second and two more in the third.

John Mayberry and Asche tallied RBI base hits in the former frame, while Ruf belted a two-run shot into the left field seats in the latter.

Nate Schierholtz cracked a leadoff homer to right to put the Cubs on the board in the fourth, but the Phils pushed six across in the home half and two more in the eighth to take a commanding advantage.

Carlos Ruiz's bunt single in the bottom of the fourth brought home Michael Martinez, who began the frame with a single, Chase Utley ripped an RBI double to left-center, Domonic Brown brought home two with a looping single into left and Asche whacked a two-run shot -- his first career homer -- to right to conclude the scoring in the inning.

John McDonald's two-run shot in the eighth made it 12-1.

Game Notes

The Phillies went 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position, while the Cubs finished 1-for-12 with RISP ... President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks has been named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.