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The Philadelphia Phillies are back in first place in the National League East by the slimmest of margins. Now they'll try to stay there.
Placido Polanco hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and the Phillies beat the Florida Marlins 8-7 Tuesday night.
"It's always good to be in first. That's the only way to live," manager Charlie Manuel said.
The Phillies moved a half-game ahead of Atlanta, which lost 5-0 in Pittsburgh. The two-time defending NL champions hadn't been in first place since May 30. They're seeking their fourth straight division title.
Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Shane Victorino each hit a solo homer for the Phillies, who were seven games behind the Braves on July 22.
"There's a lot of baseball left," Victorino said. "We are where we wanted to be now. We're in position to control our destiny."
After the Marlins rallied to tie it at 7 in the eighth, the Phillies answered with two outs in the bottom half. Victorino blooped a single to centre off Jose Veras (2-2). He stole second and scored on Polanco's liner to right.
Ryan Madson (5-2) got the last four outs to earn the win. Closer Brad Lidge was unavailable because of a tender right elbow. He said he'll be ready by Friday.
Phillies starter Joe Blanton allowed four runs — two earned — and six hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Mike Stanton homered for the third straight game for Florida. Marlins starter Chris Volstad gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings.
"This experience is helping them," Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez said of his young players. "They're getting better and better playing against a real good team."
Elsewhere in the NL, it was: Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 0; Philadelphia 8, Florida 7; N.Y. Mets 4, Washington 1; Houston 7, Chicago Cubs 3; Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 2; Colorado 4, Cincinnati 3; San Francisco 6, Arizona 3; and San Diego 2, L.A. Dodgers 1.
At Philadelphia, A crowd of 43,841 was the 113th straight sellout at Citizens Bank Park, and fans did some scoreboard watching in case the Phillies weren't paying attention. When the Pirates took a 1-0 lead over the Braves in the seventh inning at Pittsburgh, some clapped. They cheered louder when it became 3-0 minutes later.
Down 7-4, the Marlins rallied against three relievers with help from the sloppy Phillies in the eighth.
Stanton led off with a homer against Jose Contreras. With two outs and Brad Davis on second, Emilio Bonifacio singled. Davis was held at third, but he scored on right fielder Jayson Werth's throwing error. Bonifacio advanced to second on the throw, got balked to third by J.C. Romero and scored on Madson's wild pitch to tie it at 7.
Blanton left after walking Bonifacio in the seventh. Antonio Bastardo came in to face Logan Morrison, who lined an RBI double to centre to cut it to 5-4. Morrison advanced to third on second baseman Chase Utley's throwing error. But Chad Durbin came in and retired Hanley Ramirez on a foul pop. After Dan Uggla walked, Gaby Sanchez flied out to end the inning.
Jimmy Rollins, batting fifth for the second straight game instead of his usual leadoff spot, hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half. Ibanez then tripled in a run to make it 7-4.
Down 3-1, the Phillies used the long ball to take the lead.
Ibanez hit an opposite-field drive to left-centre in the fourth. Victorino led off the fifth with a drive to the seats in right. Two outs later, Howard connected to make it 4-3.
Howard's opposite-field shot off Volstad was his sixth homer off the righty. He's 11 for 23 against him.
Rollins followed Howard's 27th homer with a single. After he stole second, Ibanez singled him in for a 5-3 lead.
Rollins lined an RBI single for a 1-0 lead in the second.
Helped by Blanton's error, the Marlins scored two unearned runs to take a 2-1 lead in the third. Uggla had a run-scoring groundout and Sanchez hit an RBI single.
| Brewers 4, Cardinals 2 |
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At Milwaukee, Trevor Hoffman added another milestone to his illustrious career, earning his 600th save by closing out Milwaukee's win.
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| Rockies 4, Reds 3 |
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At Denver, Carlos Gonzalez hit a three-run homer and Jhoulys Chacin pitched six strong innings in Colorado's fifth consecutive win.
Gonzalez's homer in the first inning was his 32nd of the season and gave him 100 RBIs.
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| Pirates 5, Braves 0 |
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At Pittsburgh, James McDonald pitched seven innings and Ronny Cedeno's triple keyed a five-run seventh as last-place Pittsburgh beat Atlanta for the second straight day.
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| Mets 4, Nationals 1 |
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At Washington, Dillon Gee took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his major league debut to lead New York past Washington.
The 24-year-old right-hander did a masterful job over seven innings. Willie Harris led off the sixth with a home run to right field, the only run the rookie would allow.
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| Astros 7, Cubs 3 |
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At Chicago, Michael Bourn had three hits and three RBIs, and Brett Wallace hit his first career home run as Houston downed Chicago.
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| Giants 6, Diamondbacks 3 |
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At Phoenix, Tim Lincecum struck out 11 and San Francisco hit three homers.
The Giants have won four straight and six of seven. They began the day one game behind the first-place Padres, who started a little later against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Padres 2, Dodgers 1
At San Diego, Mat Latos bounced back from stomach flu to strike out 10 for the third time in four starts, pitching the NL West-leading Padres over the Los Angeles Dodger.
