Joe Blanton pitched eight strong innings, striking out seven and walking none, sending the Los Angeles Dodgers to their third straight defeat, a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium.
The Phillies got on the board first when Carlos Ruiz doubled in the second inning and scored on a two-out single to right center field by former Dodger Juan Pierre.
In the third, Jimmy Rollins hit his ninth home run of the season, and Ryan Howard followed in the fourth inning with his first of the season, in his sixth game. Both solo shots off Nathan Eovaldi expanded Philadelphia's lead to 3-0. Eovaldi allowed three runs and six hits in his five innings.
The Dodgers scored a run in the sixth inning as Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled and later scored on a double play groundout by Matt Kemp. In the seventh inning the Dodgers pulled to within a run at 3-2 as Juan Rivera scored on a wild pitch by Blanton, who allowed two runs and six hits in his eight innings of work.
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