SAN DIEGO — A pair of rookies helped the Phillies climb out of baseball’s basement in a 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night.
Lefty Adam Morgan delivered a quality start and centerfielder Odubel Herrera knocked in two runs with a pair of hits and scored another.
After losing 62 games before the All-Star break, the most in the majors, the Phillies are 15-5 after the break. That’s the best mark in the majors over that span. The Phillies’ run of success has coincided with the Miami Marlins losing 13 of 15 games. Consequently, the Marlins now have the majors’ worst record at 43-68. The Phils are a game better at 44-67.
The Phils had occupied the basement since June 8.
San Diego has lost six of its last seven. The Phillies are 29-10 in San Diego since Petco Park opened in 2004. They go for a series sweep on Sunday afternoon.
Starting pitching report
Morgan (3-3) breezed through the first three innings and successfully navigated his way out of some sticky situations in subsequent innings. He ended up allowing two runs over six innings, but just one was earned. He left with a 3-2 lead.
San Diego starter Tyson Ross pitched well. He gave up five hits and three runs over seven innings, walked one and struck out eight. The Phillies got to Ross early with two runs in the first and one in the third. Ross is 8-9.
Bullpen report
Jeanmar Gomez continued his excellent work out of the Phillies’ bullpen. He survived two hits to open the bottom of the seventh and came back to get three outs in registering a scoreless inning to protect a one-run lead. Gomez pitched two scoreless innings in Friday night’s win.
Luis Garcia and Ken Giles (fifth save) closed it out.
Joaquin Benoit gave up a run in the eighth as the Phils went up by two.
At the plate
Herrera has an 11-game hitting streak. He is hitting .385 (40 for 104) with 14 RBIs over his last 30 games.
Chase Utley batted leadoff for the second straight night and had a big game with a pair of doubles and two runs scored.
Cesar Hernandez had an RBI triple and made a nice defensive play at shortstop to end the eighth inning.
Utley, off the disabled list for two games, will likely rest on Sunday with Hernandez returning to second and Freddy Galvis playing shortstop.
Matt Kemp had two hits and an RBI for the Padres.
Milestone
Utley played in his 1,545th game for the Phillies. That ranks No. 7 on the team’s all-time list. He moved ahead of Ed Delahanty and trails Del Ennis by 85 games.
Up next
The series concludes on Sunday afternoon. Jerome Williams (3-8, 6.09) pitches against Padres’ right-hander Andrew Cashner (4-11, 4.08).