ESPN MLB

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Joe Roa wanted to prove a point against the Florida Marlins.

	Roa

Roa, released by the Marlins in spring training, came within three outs of his first career shutout and Jimmy Rollins' bases-loaded triple sparked a five-run fourth inning as the Phillies beat Florida 6-1 Thursday night.

"They are one of the teams that I wanted to prove that I could pitch at this level,'' said Roa, who was 14-0 with a 1.86 ERA in Triple-A. "It was absolutely a motivating factor.''

Phillies manager Larry Bowa was planning on taking Roa (4-3) out after the eighth inning but Roa wanted to stay in.

"He said, 'Let me go out, I owe these people something,''' Bowa said. "He's given us a quality start every time out there. He's a guy you want to see do well.''

Marlins manager Jeff Torborg praised Roa and said that his release was a numbers issue.

"We liked him, it was more what was in front of him,'' Torborg said. "We had three starters in front of our other starters. Joe would have been more of a long man for us and he wanted to find a place to start.''

Kevin Millar led off the ninth with a single, went to second on a balk and scored on Mike Lowell's bloop single to right field to end Roa's night. Roa allowed eight hits and no walks in the longest outing of his career.

Mike Timlin finished for the Phillies.

Placido Polanco led off the five-run fourth with a double and went to third on Tomas Perez's one-out single. Roa then hit a grounder back to pitcher Michael Tejera but the throw to second was wide, loading the bases.

Rollins then lined his triple to left center and scored on a triple by Doug Glanville. Pat Burrell's sacrifice fly scored Glanville to make it 6-0 and chase Tejera.

Marlon Byrd hit his first career homer, a solo shot to left center, in the second to put the Phillies up 1-0. Philadelphia, which leads the league in runners stranded, left the bases loaded in that inning.

The Marlins threatened in the fifth, putting runners at first and third with two outs. Luis Castillo then hit a fly ball into the right-field corner but Byrd made a sliding catch to end the inning.

"I knew that if I could make that catch, we would be good the rest of the game,'' said Byrd, who got his first taste of the unyielding Veterans Stadium turf. "When you come up with the catch, you don't feel anything.''

Tejera (8-8) had his shortest outing of the year, giving up six runs -- four earned -- and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He is 0-3 in five starts since beating San Francisco on Aug. 16.

"He looks tired,'' Torborg said. I don't know if he's ever pitched in September before.''

Millar doubled in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, the longest current streak in the NL. Lowell extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the fourth.

Game notes

Burrell hit in the third spot for the first time this season. ... In their 11-game road trip, the Marlins outscored their opponents 22-8 in their four wins and were outscored 56-13 in their seven losses. ... Millar's streak matches his 18-game streak earlier this season as his career high. ... Burrell's sacrifice fly in the fourth was his 111th RBI, the most by a Phillie since Mike Schmidt had 113 in 1987.