Howard wins it with ninth-inning homer as Phillies beat Braves 3-2 in big NL East series

Howard’s homer carries Phillies past Braves, 3-2

ATLANTA — Chase Utley went deep. So did Ryan Howard.

The Braves kept coming up short.

On a night when Atlanta had at least four balls caught on the warning track, Utley hit a two-run homer and Howard added a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 victory Friday night in the opener of an important NL East series.

The Phillies won their fourth straight and stretched their lead over Atlanta to six games.

“I don’t know how many balls they hit to the wall,” Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. “We couldn’t afford to have them go any farther.”

Shane Victorino put on a dazzling defensive show in center field, chasing down one long drive after another to keep the Braves from extending their winning streak to a season-best six games.

“We were playing in the wrong ballpark tonight,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “In Philadelphia, we probably would have had five home runs, at least four.”

Howard won it with his 28th homer of the season, driving a 2-1 pitch off struggling Rafael Soriano (1-4) into the center-field seats.

“We want to take care of business against the teams in our division,” Howard said. “So I guess it could mean that much more right now, especially because of how the race is. We still have another month to play, so we want to handle the teams in our division as much as possible.”

Joe Blanton surrendered one earned run in seven innings, Ryan Madson (4-4) won it with a scoreless eighth and Brad Lidge escaped trouble in the ninth for his 22nd save in 29 chances.

After struggling in his two previous starts, Braves starter Jair Jurrjens allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He left a pitch up in the strike zone, which Utley drove deep into the right-field seats in the fourth, putting the Phillies up 2-1.

“I made just one mistake,” Jurrjens said, “and it cost me two runs.”

Soriano, pitching for the first time in nearly a week, couldn’t get past Howard. The Atlanta closer has given up five runs in his last four appearances, getting through only one of them unscathed.

The Braves threatened against Lidge, who came into the game with a 7.29 ERA. Adam LaRoche singled to center with one out, and pinch-runner Matt Diaz stole second. After pinch-hitter Greg Norton walked, Nate McLouth ended it with a drive to the warning track that was caught by Raul Ibanez in the left-field corner.

At St. Louis, Adam Wainwright joined Boston’s Josh Beckett as the only 14-game winners in the majors and contributed his fifth career homer to a 15-hit attack.

Wainwright (14-7) scattered eight hits in seven innings, his 10th straight start allowing two or fewer earned runs.

Matt Holliday had three hits and three RBIs for the NL Central leaders, who have won six of seven and have beaten the Padres seven straight at home.

San Diego rookie Mat Latos (4-2) gave up seven runs and eight hits in four-plus innings.

At Phoenix, Dan Haren allowed one run and six hits and struck out eight in eight innings. Haren (12-7) had an RBI single in Arizona’s four-run second inning off Clayton Kershaw (8-7).

Manny Ramirez had three hits for the Dodgers and Matt Kemp homered.

At Miami, Josh Johnson allowed one hit and had a career-high 11 strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings and the Marlins won for the seventh time in eight games and climbed within two games of the NL wild card-leading Rockies.

Johnson (12-2) didn’t give up a hit until Garrett Atkins hit his eighth homer with two outs in the seventh. He allowed three walks and one run.

Chris Iannetta hit a three-run homer in the ninth for Colorado.

Dan Uggla hit his 21st homer for the Marlins, who had 10 hits, extending their streak of consecutive games with at least 10 to a club-record 11 games.

At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun homered in each of the first two innings and Felipe Lopez hit a three-run shot in an eight-run first off Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez.

Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo (11-9) struck out seven over six innings and tied a career-high with three RBIs.

Rodriguez (11-7) allowed 10 hits and a career-high 10 earned runs and walked five in four innings. He had won his previous six decisions.

At Chicago, Derrek Lee matched a career high with seven RBIs and capped a 10-run second inning with a two-run double as the Cubs snapped a five-game losing streak.

The Cubs led 14-0 after two innings. The last time they scored so many runs so quickly was June 7, 1906 — 10 years before they moved into Wrigley Field.

Lee had a three-run double, a two-run double, an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk, all in four innings.

The Pirates have lost three straight and 11 of 12.

At New York, Bobby Parnell pitched six crisp innings in his second major league start. Parnell (3-4) limited the Giants to three singles and struck out seven.

Angel Pagan connected against Barry Zito (8-11) for New York’s first leadoff homer of the season. Jeff Francoeur added a two-out RBI double in the fourth and Gary Sheffield tacked on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

At Cincinnati, Rafael Belliard and Wil Nieves hit solo homers to back Garrett Mock’s seven solid innings and Washington snapped a three-game losing streak.

Mock (2-4) allowed six hits with four walks and six strikeouts.

Mike MacDougal threw a perfect ninth for his 12th save, completing Washington’s third shutout of the season. The Reds have been shut out four times.