Castilla's two-run homer in ninth caps comeback

DENVER (AP) -- Vinny Castilla knew there were plenty of expectations when he took over for injured stars Preston Wilson and Larry Walker in the middle of the Colorado Rockies lineup.

"When Larry and Preston went down, and I was going to hit fourth, I had more responsibility, especially with the game on the line," Castilla said. "I was prepared for that physically and mentally."

Castilla proved that Monday when he hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, completing the Rockies' comeback from a six-run deficit in their 7-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

"He's been huge. He's been huge with the glove, he's been huge with the bat, obviously," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "He was a huge offseason acquisition for us."

Down 6-0 after three innings, the Rockies scored five times in the seventh with homers by Matt Holliday and Charles Johnson.

In the ninth, Todd Helton drew a leadoff walk on four pitches from Tim Worrell (0-1) and Castilla followed with his 10th homer, a drive that barely cleared the left-field wall.

"The first pitch, I thought was a ball. After that, you have to be able to swing at that pitch again," Castilla said of his third career walkoff homer. "He put another pitch pretty close and I had to put a good swing on it."

The home run was Castilla's 278th overall and 266th as a third baseman, breaking a tie with Brooks Robinson for ninth place at the position.

"I thought the ball stayed in, but then, I didn't get the ball far enough in," Worrell said. "But you set yourself up when you issue a four-pitch walk."

Castilla finished with three hits and three RBI. The Rockies beat the Phillies by the same 7-6 score on Sunday.

Mike Lieberthal and Chase Utley each drove in three runs for the Phillies, who went 7-3 on their road trip to Arizona, San Francisco and Coors Field.

Brian Fuentes (1-0) got the win. He struck out three in the ninth.

Lieberthal had three hits, including a home run. Utley hit a bases-loaded triple.

The Phillies pounded Aaron Cook, called up before the game from Triple-A Colorado Springs. He gave up six runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Lieberthal hit a two-run homer in the second, and Philadelphia scored four more in the third. Lieberthal's bad-hop single with two outs drove in a run, David Bell walked to load the bases and Utley tripled into the left-center field gap.

Randy Wolf blanked the Rockies until the seventh. Holliday homered into the Colorado bullpen leading off the inning and Wolf fanned Todd Greene for his eighth strikeout.

After a single by Kit Pellow that dropped in the outfield between Marlon Byrd and Bobby Abreu, Rheal Cormier relieved. Johnson connected for a pinch-hit homer and Helton and Castilla hit RBI singles before reliever Ryan Madson ended the inning.

"Pellow's fly ball has to be caught," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "If we make a play on the fly ball it's 6-1, two outs and nobody on."

Pellow singled and Mark Sweeney walked against Madson with one out in the eighth. Worrell came on and retired Denny Hocking and Royce Clayton.

Game notes
Philadelphia has hit 22 home runs in its last 14 games. ... Helton's string of 43 at-bats without a strikeout ended when he fanned in the third inning. ... Colorado optioned pitcher Scott Dohmann to Triple-A Colorado Springs to make room for Cook. ... Castilla has a 12-game hitting streak.