Howard’s bat puts Phillies in East lead
ATLANTA -- Ryan Howard rallied the Philadelphia Phillies back into first place, hitting a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning for his fourth hit in an 8-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
It was Howard’s 45th home run.
Brad Lidge escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning and the Phillies moved half a game in front of the New York Mets, who lost, 1-0, at Washington, in the National League East. The Phillies also caught the Mets in September to win the division last season.
The Phillies lead the division for the first time since Aug. 26.
Philadelphia led, 3-0 and 4-3, before the Braves took a 7-4 lead with a four-run sixth inning.
Howard had a run-scoring triple as the Phillies scored twice in the seventh.
Lidge walked Chipper Jones to open the ninth, then walked Casey Kotchman and Jeff Francoeur to load the bases with two outs.
But the All-Star closer struck out Gregor Blanco, making him perfect in 37 save opportunities during his first season with Philadelphia.
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