Fightin Phils wrap up set with Tribe

Jun 20, 2007, 15:25 GMT

- Ryan Howard is hitting his stride and will try to continue the power surge tonight when the Philadelphia Phillies play the rubber match of their three-game set with the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field.

Howard had three hits, one of them a long solo homer, and tied a season-high with four RBI in the Phillies' 9-6 victory on Tuesday.

The homer was Howard's 16th of the season, and the reigning NL MVP has gone deep in consecutive games and in three of his last five contests. He also homered in back-to-back games on June 10-11.

Chase Utley added a two-run single and Pat Burrell a two-run double, as the offensive outburst helped young right-hander Kyle Kendrick to his first major league win.

Kendrick (1-0) allowed three runs on five hits, walked a batter and struck out one over six effective innings for Philadelphia, which snapped a two-game skid and moved within two games of the New York Mets for first place in the NL East.

Philadelphia's Jon Lieber will try to bounce back from a poor outing on Friday that dropped him to 1-3 over his last four starts. Against the Tigers last time out, the right-hander was hammered for seven runs -- six earned -- on 10 hits in just five innings of a 12-8 setback. Lieber also fanned five while falling to 3-5 on the season with a 4.21 earned run average.

The former Yankee, who threw his first shutout of the year on June 9 versus Kansas City, is 2-0 in three lifetime starts against Cleveland with a 2.75 ERA. He last faced them on September 2, 2004 and guided New York to a victory behind seven shutout innings.

Ryan Garko, who came into the game mired in a 2-for-41 slump, hit a solo homer in the second inning for Cleveland yesterday and added an RBI single in the fourth. Jason Michaels had a pair of RBI off the bench as he replaced David Dellucci in the game after Dellucci injured his left hamstring running out a ground ball.

The injury could land him on the disabled list.

Jason Stanford (1-1) was touched for six runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Indians, who had their two-game winning streak snapped and fell into a tie with Detroit for first-place in the AL Central.

Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia will try to become the American League's third 10- game winner this evening. Sabathia has been stuck on nine wins for his last two starts, as he got a no-decision on June 10 at Cincinnati before being handed his second loss of the season on Friday against Atlanta.

The left-hander went 8 1/3 frames against the Braves, but allowed five runs -- four earned -- on 12 hits with seven strikeouts in a 5-4 setback. The outing lifted his ERA to 3.19.

Sabathia took the loss in his only career start against the Phillies. That defeat came on June 10, 2002 after he yielded three runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 3-1 setback.

Cleveland and Philadelphia last met in 2002 at Jacobs Field, with the Indians winning two out of three in the series. The Indians are 100-89 all-time in interleague play, while the Phillies are 86-97.

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