Ruiz's walk-off beats Brewers after Phils blow lead

Phillies 4, Brewers 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- For a rookie, Carlos Ruiz sure has the celebration part down perfect.

Ruiz hit a solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies over the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Brett Myers allowed Johnny Estrada's tying solo homer in the ninth for his first blown save, but Ruiz connected off Derrick Turnbow (1-2) for his first career game-winning homer.

Ruiz flipped his bat, stood at the plate and admired his drive before he finally started his trot around the bases.

"It felt great. I knew it was going," Ruiz said.

Ruiz is batting .295 with 17 RBIs in 24 starts at catcher.

"He smoked it. He hit it a long way for a little guy," manager Charlie Manuel said.

Listed at 5-foot-10, Ruiz appears a bit shorter. He's well-liked by his teammates, who mobbed him at home plate and smashed a shaving-cream pie in his face during a postgame television interview.

After the Phillies missed an opportunity to get an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, Estrada led off the ninth with his fifth homer.

Myers (1-2) had converted his first four save opportunities since replacing injured closer Tom Gordon and hadn't allowed a run since his first relief appearance. Myers, who was the Opening Day starter, has a 1.08 ERA in 16 2/3 innings as a reliever.

"I made a terrible pitch. It was a splitter," Myers said.

Turnbow, the losing pitcher Monday night, retired the first two batters in the ninth after getting the last out in the eighth. But Ruiz drove a 2-1 pitch into the left-center field seats for his third homer.

"I made a mistake and he put the ball on it and made me pay for it," Turnbow said.

After going 0-8 with a chance to move within one game of .500, the Phillies (19-20) finally moved closer to getting their record even with their fifth win in six games.

The NL Central-leading Brewers have lost four of five.

"We finally found our heart and started playing together as a team," Myers said.

Adam Eaton allowed two runs -- one earned -- and four hits in 7 2/3 innings in his best outing since the Phillies gave him a $24.5 million, three-year contract in the offseason.

Eaton came in with a 9.72 ERA in three starts at home but left to a standing ovation after Prince Fielder's solo shot to right field cut it to 3-2 in the eighth.

Greg Dobbs gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the fifth when he drove a 1-1 pitch from starter Claudio Vargas out to right-center for his second homer. Filling in for injured NL MVP Ryan Howard, Dobbs is 8-for-12 in the last five games.

The Phillies used their legs to add a run in the sixth. Jimmy Rollins singled with one out. Chase Utley followed with a hit-and-run single into the vacated shortstop hole. Pat Burrell then hit a hard bouncer back to the mound, but Utley was running on the pitch and beat the throw to second base. Rollins scored to make it 3-1 as Burrell was retired at first.

Vargas gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.

"Vargas pitched very well," Brewers manager Ned Yost said.

The Phillies couldn't get a runner home from third with less than two outs three times, but it didn't cost them.

With runners at second and third and one out in the eighth, Utley hit a grounder to second baseman Rickie Weeks. Shane Victorino broke from third on contact and was out at the plate.

In the fifth, Aaron Rowand grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners at first and third. After Rollins' sacrifice fly made it 1-0 in the first, Victorino was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Geoff Jenkins on Utley's foul pop down the line.

The Brewers tied it at 1 on a rare error by Victorino in the second inning. Craig Counsell walked with two outs and scored when Vargas hit a fly ball to right that Victorino misjudged and dropped for a two-base error.

Game notes
Yost was ejected by plate umpire Larry Vanover in the fourth inning after Jenkins was called out on an 0-2 pitch. Yost engaged in a heated exchange with Vanover after his first ejection of the season and 17th of his managerial career. ... A walk-up crowd of 11,300 was the most in the four-year history of Citizens Bank Park. ... Victorino's error was his first in 351 career chances. He has one throwing error.