Major League Baseball
Howard, Galvis lead Phillies over Marlins
Major League Baseball

Howard, Galvis lead Phillies over Marlins

Published Apr. 21, 2015 9:40 p.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Ryan Howard took a mighty cut, paused to admire his blast and watched the ball sail over the fence for the first time this season.

Those home runs sure don't come easy anymore for the big slugger.

Howard hit a go-ahead two-run homer, Freddy Galvis also connected to back Jerome Williams, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 Tuesday night.

''It feels good,'' Howard said. ''That's baseball. Sometimes the wind's blowing in, sometimes the wind's blowing out. You keep swinging, and they'll go. They'll do what they're supposed to do.''

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Williams (1-1) allowed three runs - two earned - and eight hits, striking out six in six innings.

The slumping Marlins lost their fifth straight game, falling to 3-11. Manager Mike Redmond didn't get an endorsement from owner Jeffrey Loria after meeting with him and general manager Dan Jennings before the game.

Miami starter Dan Haren (1-1) gave up four runs and four hits in six innings. Giancarlo Stanton hit a 453-foot homer for the Marlins.

''I made a couple mistakes and the few I made I didn't get away with, that's for sure,'' Haren said.

Coming off a 1-6 road trip, the Phillies showed some rare pop at the plate. They've hit just eight home runs in 14 games.

Howard gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead in the sixth with a drive to straightaway center. Cody Asche hit a bloop single with two outs before Howard went deep.

''You go out there, you swing, balls come off the bat and guys make play,'' Howard said. ''Sometimes it doesn't go your way. All you can do is continue to go out there and swing, and just try to put good at-bats together.''

Manager Ryne Sandberg called it ''kind of a breakout game'' for Howard, adding he had three quality at-bats.

Howard has been dropped from his regular spot in the lineup as the cleanup hitter to sixth or seventh. He's batting .209 with 16 strikeouts.

''I'm going up there and trying to have good at-bats,'' he said. ''Hopefully it does turn it on, but we'll see. I'm just going to continue to try to have the same approach I had tonight and go from there.''

Ben Revere hit a two-run triple in the seventh and scored on Chase Utley's sacrifice fly. Galvis lined one out to right in the second inning for a 2-0 lead.

Stanton hit a long homer into Miami's bullpen in the fourth.

Adeiny Hechavarria's RBI single tied it at 2 in the fifth. After Haren bunted into a double play, J.T Realmuto scored the go-ahead run when Dee Gordon reached on Howard's fielding error at first base.

BOUNCING BACK

Williams was coming off a rough start against the Mets in which he allowed four earned runs and 10 hits in five innings. ''It was good going out there, throwing and locating pitches where they needed to be - except for that one that went, I think, 450-something feet,'' Williams said. ''Other than that, just pitched my game.''

HOME COOKING

The Phillies are 22-15 at Citizens Bank Park since last July 24. They're only 13-25 on the road in that span.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Marlins: LF Christian Yelich was scratched from the lineup 30 minutes before first pitch because of tightness in his lower back.

Phillies: RHP Chad Billingsley missed his rehab start Monday because of a stomach illness. He's expected to make that start this week. OF Domonic Brown was 1 for 4 in a rehab start at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Brown had been sidelined by a sore left Achilles. He's batting .118.

UP NEXT

Marlins RHP Jared Cosart (0-1, 4.76) faces Phillies lefty Cole Hamels (0-2, 5.00) on Wednesday night. Cosart was one of the prospects Philadelphia traded to Houston for Hunter Pence in 2011.

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