Rupp's homer in 12th inning pushes Phillies past Padres

SAN DIEGO --- The Phillies mustered only eight hits over 12 innings of Friday night's series opener against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

They won, 4-3, only because four of them left the yard.

Cameron Rupp's solo home run in the top of the 12th, the Phillies' fourth of the game, served as the game-winner. The Phils' catcher unloaded on a full-count fastball from righthander Kevin Quackenbush and sent it an estimated 416 feet over the center-field wall.

"I had two chances in that at-bat prior to that pitch and I missed," Rupp said. "He left one out over the plate and I was ready for it."

Domonic Brown, Ryan Howard and Cody Asche accounted for the other Phillies' homers, each coming off Padres ace James Shields. The team's other four hits were singles.

The win was the Phillies' 14th in 19 games since the all-star break. At 43-67, they are no longer sole possessors of baseball's worst record. The Miami Marlins loss on Friday to the Atlanta Braves dropped them to the same record.

"We stuck in there. Nobody likes to lose," Rupp said. "We hung in there and this is the way it's turning out for us. We've had great pitching. The bullpen's been great. The offense is exploding. When you're doing that it's a good recipe for winning."

Brown's fourth-inning home run was his fourth of the season, each of which have come over his last six starts and over the team's last eight games. Howard crushed his 19th of the year in the sixth inning and Asche tied the game at 3 with a longball in the seventh.

The Phillies' first three home runs may have won the game for them earlier if not for a fielding blunder by Brown in the third inning. The oft-maligned right fielder whiffed on Justin Upton's two-out fly ball, banging into the fence as the ball bounced away. Ruled a triple, Brown's misplay cost the Phillies and starter Aaron Nola two runs.

Brown atoned for his mistake with his homer a half-inning later and later in the seventh by throwing out Yangervis Solarte at home plate on an Upton single.

"I think he started feeling the wall," Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said. "I'll be honest with you: If the ball's in the ballpark I want it to be caught. But sometimes that wall comes into play and that's what happened. You can call it atonement if you want, but he hit that home run and he made that great (throw). He's been playing well for us. The guys have all been contributing and it's nice to see them excited."

Nola logged six innings in which he threw 99 pitches, the most of his four major league starts. The 22-year-old rookie righthander was charged with three earned runs on six hits. He struck out six, walked two and also hit two batsmen.

The Phillies felt Nola was squeezed by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook. Pitching coach Bob McClure was tossed by Estabrook in the fifth for arguing balls and strikes on his way back to the dugout after a mound meeting.

Shields struck out eight, his most since May 19, over 6 2/3 innings. The Phillies tagged him for only six hits but made three of them matter. Howard's sixth-inning home run traveled an estimated 426 feet. The 35-year-old first baseman is three RBIs shy of tying Del Ennis (1,124) for second on the franchise's all-time list.

Ken Giles recorded his fourth save of the season.

Chase Utley was 1 for 5 in his first game back from the disabled list. He exited as part of a double-switch in the bottom of the ninth, with Cesar Hernandez replacing him in the field.

"Chase looked good. He felt good," Mackanin said. "As a matter of fact, we took extra batting practice today and I mentioned it to him. That's the best I've ever seen him hit in batting practice. Sincerely. He was doing something different. It's almost like he found something that he wasn't doing.

"He looked good. He got that hit off the lefty (Marc Rzepczynski). I double-switched him out of the game because I didn't want him to play extra innings."