Utley, Howard bombs help dump ex-Phil Padilla, Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- The big hitters finally showed up again for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit 400-foot home runs only pitches apart in the third inning, both ending long homerless droughts, and the Phillies went on to an 8-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on a rainy Saturday night.

"I've said it all along, we've got to hit to win," manager Charlie Manuel said. "Our big boys have to hit."

This time, they did.

Utley had two doubles and his first homer in 12 games, his 23rd of the season matching Florida's Dan Uggla for tops in the majors.

Howard hadn't homered in the previous nine games, a stretch when the NL East-leading Phillies won only once. He has 20 homers and 67 RBIs, which gave him the NL lead in that category.

"It was the entire team, it went into a lull at the same time. You don't see that too often, but we did," Howard said. "Everybody knows that's how the game goes sometime."

The Phillies have five homers and 15 runs in their first two games at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, where they had never played before an 8-7 loss Friday night. They had only two homers and 15 runs their previous eight games.

Despite the big sluggers by the Phillies, and Jimmy Rollins' near inside-the-park homer that still produced a run, Texas still had a chance late.

After leaving the bases loaded in the eighth, the Rangers had two runners on with one out in the ninth against closer Brad Lidge. And Josh Hamilton, the majors' RBI leader, and AL batting leader Milton Bradley were waiting to hit.

"I definitely haven't had that kind of adrenaline in a while. It felt great to be in that situation," Lidge said. "I tried to keep their big guys off balance. They can do some damage."

But Lidge struck out Hamilton and Bradley -- both on sliders -- for his 19th save in 19 chances, extending his team record for most consecutive saves to start a season.

Left-hander Cole Hamels (8-5) struck out eight over seven innings.

Michael Young homered and Ian Kinsler had his second consecutive three-hit game for the Rangers, who missed another chance to move two games over .500 for the first time under second-year manager Ron Washington.

Texas (41-41) has gotten one game over .500 six times this season, and has lost the next game each time -- three times in the last week.

"The whole thing is we have to make a run. Rolling off five or 10 games in a row would be nice," Marlon Byrd said.

After Utley hit a 418-foot shot into the Rangers' bullpen in right-center field and Pat Burrell drew a walk, Howard hit a blast that landed in the second deck of seats above the bullpen for a 6-2 lead.

Both homers came off Vicente Padilla (10-4), who was denied by his former team of matching the American League lead for victories. The right-hander was 8-1 his previous 11 starts and had won three in a row.

"They were up in the zone, good enough for them to hit," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "He made good quality pitches, but got a little frustrated."

The game was never stopped despite lightning that prompted stadium officials to warn fans in the upper sections about the dangers of the weather, and rain that fell for the final five innings -- and the scheduled postgame fireworks show went off as scheduled. There was a heavy downpour while the Rangers batted in the sixth.

Rollins was thrown out at the plate to end the sixth, after his liner ricocheted off the angled wall in right-center and past Hamilton.

Rollins never slowed down, but the right fielder retrieved the ball and got it to Kinsler for a perfect relay throw to Saltalamacchia, who made a sweeping tag of the sliding Rollins for the inning-ending out. Rollins was credited with an RBI triple, since Chris Coste had already scored to make it 7-4.

Padilla spent five seasons in Philadelphia, where he was twice a 14-game winner and once an All-Star, before being traded to Texas in December 2005. He had never faced his former team, and was in trouble early.

After Padilla walked Howard and allowed consecutive singles to load the bases in the second, Jayson Werth hit a two-run single to tie it at 2. Pedro Feliz then scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch by Padilla that put the Phillies ahead to stay.

The Rangers, who got Young's two-run homer in the first, scored twice in the eighth against Philadelphia relievers.

Chad Durbin, who could be in line to replace struggling Brett Myers in the starting rotation, gave up a leadoff single to Kinsler but picked him off before Young grounded out before four straight batters reached. J.C. Romero then walked Brandon Boggs with the bases loaded before striking out Saltalamacchia to end the threat.

Game notes
Kinsler leads the AL with 107 hits, and has an 11-game hitting streak. ... It was Utley's sixth three-hit game this season, his first with three extra-base hits.