Philadelphia, PA – Jimmy Rollins homered and drove in three runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-7 win over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.
Juan Pierre had three hits, scored twice and knocked in one and Chase Utley reached base five times and had an RBI for the Phillies, who have won six straight to reach .500 for the first time since June 4.
".500 isn't a goal, but we got a chance to finish above that, and hopefully substantially above that," Phillies starter Roy Halladay said. "We definitely played a lot better, and have seen a lot of good things in the last two months. We just want to keep it going."
Halladay (10-7) allowed five runs on seven hits and struck out six over 6 1/3 innings to earn his fourth win in five starts.
"It was just one of those games where I felt really good early on. I felt like we were making pitches," Halladay said. "It ends up being closer than you want, but we got out with a win. It feels good right now, especially the way we've been playing."
Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth to pick up his 33rd save of the season.
Justin Ruggiano went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Giancarlo Stanton homered for the Marlins, who have dropped nine of their last 13.
Nathan Eovaldi (4-12) gave up five runs on eight hits and struck out three over four-plus innings to absorb the loss.
"We did a good job against Halladay, we just didn't pitch well," Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We continue to leave people in scoring position with a great opportunity to score more runs and we leave them there. That's been our problem most of the year."
Halladay helped his own cause with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. Michael Martinez doubled then scored when Halladay punched one back through the middle to make it 6-3.
Later in the inning, Rollins roped a two-run shot into the right-field seats. On the prior pitch Rollins popped a ball behind the plate, but it was dropped by Marlins catcher Rob Brantly, and Rollins took advantage of the second chance, smacking his team-leading 18th homer of the year.
But the Marlins would not go away, adding 4 runs in the seventh to make it 8-7.
Brantly singled then scored on Bryan Petersen's double to right-center field, spelling the end of Halladay's outing. Ruggiano welcomed reliever Josh Lindblom with a base hit to the right side to push Peterson across.
Reyes then reached on a fielding error by Utley before Lee knocked in Ruggiano with a single to left field. From there, the Phils turned to Jeremy Horst but Greg Dobbs quickly chased him from the game with a single through the hole at short to pull Miami within one.
Philadelphia added an insurance run in the home half when Rollins lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. It looked as if there would be a close play at home, but Giancarlo Stanton's throw sailed up the third base line and John Mayberry scored easily.
In the eighth, Miami had runners at second and third with two outs, but Philippe Aumont struck out Jose Reyes to end the threat. Papelbon set the side down in order in the next frame.
After loading the bases in the first inning with no outs, the Phillies pushed three across to seize control.
Ryan Howard ripped a sharp grounder to second base, but Donovan Solano made a quick stab to start a 4-6-3 double play that resulted in Rollins crossing the plate. Carlos Ruiz followed Howard with a double into the right-field corner before coming around on Domonic Brown's base hit.
The Marlins got on the board with a pair of runs in the third. Solano and Brantly hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. An Eovaldi sacrifice bunt moved Brantly to second and Ruggiano followed with a single to shallow left field to plate Solano. Reyes then lifted a sac fly to score Brantly.
Philadelphia countered with a run in the home half to push its spread to 4-2. Pierre doubled then scored when Utley laced a single past a diving Solano into right-center field.
The Phillies tacked on one more in the fifth when Rollins worked a leadoff walk, stole second and came home when Pierre followed with a single.
Stanton clobbered a towering solo homer in the sixth to pull the Marlins within 5-3.
Game Notes
The Phillies have gone 36-20 over their last 56 games to creep into the NL wild card chase ... Halladay made his 400th career start, and hasn't lost since Aug. 15 ... Philadelphia improved to 60-2 when leading after eight innings ... Stanton, 22, has clubbed 90 career homers, sixth most all-time for players before the age of 23 ... Eovaldi has dropped four consecutive starts since Aug. 18.
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