Phillies’ Rolen Hits Two Homers

Scott Rolen, unhappy with his hitting all season, may have started his turnaround Sunday.

Rolen hit two homers for the fifth time, going three for three with three runs scored as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated Arizona, 7-4, the Diamondbacks’ 11th loss in 12 games.

“I was trying to relax a little bit,” said Rolen, the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year. “I’ve been a little uptight at the plate lately.”

Philadelphia has won four in a row going into a 10-game trip that begins at Dodger Stadium tonight.

“This puts us back at .500 (17-17), and that’s big for us,” Rolen said. “We’re not shooting for .500 baseball, but you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Rolen hit a solo homer off Jeff Suppan for a 6-3 lead in the third, then another solo shot off Russ Springer in the seventh. He has six homers this season.

Philadelphia took a 5-0 lead in the first, then relied on its bullpen.

Darrin Winston (1-0) pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings in relief of starter Mike Grace.

Three other Phillies pitchers combined to allow only one hit, an infield single. Mark Leiter pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save.

“We had one guy take the ball, then that guy did his work and handed the ball off to the next guy,” Winston said.

The first seven batters against Suppan (0-4) reached, and the first five scored. Suppan was tagged for five earned runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings as his ERA rose to 7.27.

“If I could have done a better job of locating my fastball and getting ahead of some guys, I should have gotten the job done,” Suppan said. “It was just a poor effort by me.”

Arizona has lost five consecutive overall and dropped to, 4-20, on the road. The expansion Diamondbacks, who are, 4-8, at home, return to Phoenix for an eight-game homestand today and face the Chicago Cubs’ Kerry Wood, who struck out 20 last week to tie the record for a nine-inning game.”

Doug Glanville singled leading off the first, Gregg Jefferies walked, Rolen reached on an infield single and Glanville scored when shortstop Jay Bell’s throw home was wide for an error.

Rico Brogna hit a two-run double, and RBI doubles by Mike Lieberthal and Bobby Abreu made it 5-0.

Arizona closed with three runs in the second on RBI doubles by Brent Brede and Devon White, and a bases-loaded walk to Travis Lee. White hit a solo homer in the fourth that made it 6-4.