The no-late-lead-is-safe series continued Sunday at Citizens Bank Park, but this time it was the Phillies who rallied late to steal a 5-4 win from the San Diego Padres.
Trailing 4-0 going into the sixth inning, the Phils cut the deficit in half on a two-run homer from Chase Utley, drew within one on Jimmy Rollins' first home run of the year two innings later, and won it in walkoff style when Raul Ibanez followed Ryan Howard's leadoff single with a blast to right field off losing pitcher Edwin Moreno. The home run was Ibanez' team-high fifth of the 2009 season.
Earlier, Ibanez looked more likely to end the game as goat than hero. His third-inning misplay of an Edgar Gonzalez fly ball to left resulted in a triple and turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-0 hole. Two innings later, Adrian Gonzalez added a solo home run off Phils starter Chan Ho Park to stretch the lead to 4-0. Meanwhile, Padres rookie Justin Geer, an emergency fill-in for disabled Walter Silva, held the Phillies off the scoreboard through five innings and wound up allowing just two runs on six hits through seven frames, striking out four and walking none.
Park was better in his second start of the season than he'd been a week earlier in Denver, but not much. He allowed four runs in five innings on eight hits and a walk, striking out three on 88 pitches. But after back-to-back meltdowns by top relievers Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge, the Phils got four scoreless innings from J.A. Happ and winner Clay Condrey to hold the fort until the bats arrived late.
The series concludes tomorrow night with Kevin Correa going for San Diego against Jamie Moyer.