Phillies 4, Padres 2(11)
Having struck out in each of his previous four at-bats, Ryan Howard wasn't entirely surprised that the San Diego Padres intentionally walked Jimmy Rollins ahead of him in the 11th inning.
Howard responded by hitting a two-run, opposite-field double to left field with two outs and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 on Saturday night.
''I'm just trying to take it and use it as motivation. Glad I came through,'' Howard said.
The NL East-leading Phillies have won the first three games of this series, with reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay scheduled to start Sunday's finale. Overall, the Phillies have won 10 straight and 14 of 15 at Petco Park since the 2008 season.
Placido Polanco hit a leadoff single off Chad Qualls (0-2) to start the rally, was sacrificed by Shane Victorino and took third on Peter Orr's groundout. Padres manager Bud Black chose to intentionally walk Jimmy Rollins ahead of Howard and then bring in lefty reliever Cory Luebke to face the lefty slugger.
''With the way that the game was going, no, I guess you're not surprised they'd go to the bullpen and bring in a lefty in that situation,'' Howard said.
Howard hit a ball to deep left that Ryan Ludwick couldn't get his glove on.
''I think he was motivated, yeah. He rose to the occasion. That's how you handle it,'' manager Charlie Manuel said.
''It was a long run,'' Ludwick said. ''That corner is kind of tricky. I actually ran to the spot where I thought the ball was going when it came off his bat. It was a long run and a felt I had a good read on it. When I looked at the replay I was an inch away.''
Howard struck out four times in Thursday night's 3-0 win, then came back on Friday and hit a two-run triple in a 2-0 win.
''That's how the game is sometimes. All it takes is one time for things to kind of click, and it clicked for me at the right time,'' Howard said.
''I just liked the matchup of Luebke on Howard,'' Black said. ''There's a little bit of history with Qualls and Rollins.''
Rollins is 3 for 6 lifetime against Qualls, with two doubles and one RBI.
Kyle Kendrick (1-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the win. Ryan Madson pitched the 11th for his second save in as many chances.
The Padres scored their first run in 22 innings when Cameron Maybin singled off Joe Blanton leading off the first and came around on Jason Bartlett's triple to right-center. The Padres failed to add on, though. Orlando Hudson walked and Bartlett was caught in a rundown when Nick Hundley grounded back to Blanton. That put runners on second and third with one out. Hudson was held at third on Jorge Cantu's fly ball to right and Ludwick struck out to end the inning.
The Phillies tied it when Ben Francisco tripled to right-center with two outs in the fourth to bring in Rollins, who was aboard on a walk. Maybin, the center fielder, tried to make a diving catch but missed it by two feet.
The Padres regained the lead on Hundley's double down the left-field line that brought in Maybin, aboard on a leadoff single.
Philadelphia's Orr reached on a double down the right-field line with one out in the sixth. Umpire Mike DiMuro hesitated for a moment before ruling it fair. Orr then scored on Rollins' single to center.
Blanton allowed two runs on eight hits in seven innings, struck out three and walked two.
San Diego's Tim Stauffer went six, allowing two runs and four hits while tying his career-high with seven strikeouts. He walked one.
NOTES: The four-game homestand concludes Sunday when Halladay is scheduled to face LHP Wade LeBlanc, who is being brought up from Triple-A Tucson.