Phillies 3, Cardinals 2
Ben Francisco belted a pinch-hit three-run homer and Cole Hamels tossed six scoreless innings as the Philadelphia Phillies pushed the St. Louis Cardinals to the brink of elimination with a 3-2 road triumph on Tuesday in Game 3 of the National League Divisional Series.
Jimmy Rollins had two hits to improve to 7-for-12 in the series for Philadelphia, which will look to advance to the NLCS for the fourth straight year with a road victory in Game 4 on Wednesday.
After mustering just three hits over the first six innings, the Phillies finally got to Jaime Garcia (0-1) in the seventh.
Shane Victorino led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball. Two quick outs brought up No. 8 hitter Carlos Ruiz, who was intentionally walked to force manager Charlie Manuel's hand.
Manuel ended Hamels' day in favor of Francisco, who deposited a belt-high fastball over the fence in left-center field. Francisco had six homers in 250 at-bats during the regular season.
Hamels (1-0) scattered five hits and struck out eight, including the side in the sixth inning. Rookie Vance Worley yielded an RBI single to David Freese in the seventh and Yadier Molina added an RBI single in the ninth, but Ryan Madson ended the threat by securing his first five-out save of 2011.
Albert Pujols collected four hits - including three doubles - and Ryan Theriot went 4-for-5 to improve to 6-for-9 in the series for St. Louis.