Padres 9, Phillies 4
PHILADELPHIA -- The San Diego Padres finally solved the Philadelphia Phillies with a 9-4 win on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park to avoid a season sweep.
The Padres, who came in 0-5 this season against the Phillies, got homers from right fielder Matt Kemp, left fielder Justin Upton and third baseman Yangervis Solarte, while right-hander James Shields threw seven innings of one-run ball and struck out eight.
The long balls by Kemp and Upton came early against right-hander Alec Asher, who was making his major league debut, and San Diego (63-67) never looked back by breaking it open late.
Despite the loss, Philadelphia (52-79) is 18-5-2 in 25 series against the Padres since 2004.
After scoring just four runs over the first two games of the series, San Diego raced out of the chute Sunday when Kemp hit a bullet into the left-field seats for a two-run homer in the top of the first inning.
The Phillies got one back in the bottom of the second inning on an opposite field, solo shot by catcher Cameron Rupp, but the Padres snagged it right back the next inning when Upton skied a solo homer of his own to left-center field.
With runners on first and third and two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Shields helped his cause with a bloop single up the middle to make it 4-1 and knock Asher out of the game.
Asher (0-1), acquired in the July 31 trade that sent Cole Hamels to the Texas Rangers, went 5 2/3 innings in his first big league start, allowing four runs (all earned) on eight hits while striking out three.
Shields (10-6), who entered with the fifth-most strikeouts in the National League, increased his season total to 184. With the victory, he's now amassed double-digit wins in nine consecutive seasons.
San Diego tacked on in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings against Philadelphia relief pitching to put the game out of reach. Solarte hit his career-high 11th homer of the season, a solo shot in the seventh, before the Padres plated four in the final two frames with RBI singles from pinch hitters Clint Barmes, Brett Wallace and Melvin Upton Jr. and center fielder Derek Norris.
Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera collected a career-high four hits, but was also caught stealing and picked off. Second baseman Cesar Hernandez, right fielder Aaron Altherr and left fielder Cody Asche drove in Philadelphia's other three runs.
NOTES: The Phillies claimed LHP Ken Roberts off waivers from the Colorado Rockies and optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. ... Padres RHP James Shields hit eighth, ahead of OF Travis Jankowski. ... The Phillies open a six-game road trip Monday, with a three-game series against the New York Mets. Philadelphia's probable starters are RHP Jerad Eickhoff (1-1, 2.25 ERA), RHP Aaron Harang (5-14, 4.79 ERA) and RHP Aaron Nola (5-1, 3.26 ERA). ... The Padres open an 11-game homestand Monday, with a three-game series against the Texas Rangers. San Diego's probable starters are RHP Tyson Ross (9-9, 3.42 ERA), RHP Andrew Cashner (5-13, 4.06 ERA) and RHP Ian Kennedy (8-12, 3.94 ERA).