Phillies come back to beat Dodgers in the 9th, 5-4-latimes.com

Jonathan Broxton gives up a two-run walk-off hit to Jimmy Rollins. Philadelphia takes a commanding three games to one lead in best-of seven series.



Carlos Ruiz leaps in the air as he scores the winning run on a Jimmy Rollins double off Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton, background, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NLCS. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Reporting from Philadelphia - Once Game 4 of the National League Championship Series turned into a battle of bullpens, the Dodgers had to like their chances.

But against one of the most airtight closers in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for an improbable 5-4 victory tonight at Citizens Bank Park.

Jimmy Rollins' two-run double into the gap in right-center field off Jonathan Broxton drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the ninth inning to give the Phillies a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The teams will take Tuesday off before resuming the series with Game 5 here on Wednesday.

Things began to unravel for Broxton in the ninth when he walked pinch-hitter Matt Stairs -- who had hit a game-winning, two-run homer off Broxton in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS -- on four pitches with one out and hit Carlos Ruiz with his next pitch.

Pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs hit a soft liner to third baseman Casey Blake for the second out. That brought up Rollins, who was mobbed by teammates after delivering his winning hit.

Trailing by a run, the Phillies threatened in the eighth when Dodgers reliever George Sherrill hit Shane Victorino on the right foot with one out and then walked Chase Utley. Dodgers Manager Joe Torre let Sherrill face the left-handed-hitting Ryan Howard even though Howard was 0 for 8 with six strikeouts in his career against Broxton. The move worked when Sherrill struck out Howard.

After falling behind by two runs in the first inning, the Dodgers tied the score in the fourth and took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on Matt Kemp's homer off Phillies starter Joe Blanton. The Dodgers added a run in the sixth thanks to third baseman Pedro Feliz's throwing error and a pair of bloop singles, including one to right field by Blake with two out that drove in Manny Ramirez.

James Loney and Russell Martin each drove in a run during a fourth-inning rally in which the Dodgers tied the score but stranded the bases loaded when Blake grounded out to second baseman Utley. You could almost feel the sellout crowd of 46,157 hold its collective breath before Utley, who had committed a pair of throwing errors in the first two games of the series, made an uneventful throw to first baseman Howard.

Randy Wolf rebounded from a rough start in his first postseason appearance against his former team, giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings. He surrendered a two-run homer to Howard in the first inning before retiring 14 of the next 15 batters.

Wolf spent the first eight years of his career with the Phillies but never reached the postseason and acknowledged that he was jealous when his former team won the World Series last year.

The left-hander ran into trouble with one out in the sixth inning. Victorino hit a standup triple into the left-field corner and scored on Utley's single past second baseman Ronnie Belliard. Wolf walked Howard on five pitches, prompting Torre to bring in reliever Ronald Belisario to face Werth.

Werth hit what looked like a potential double-play grounder to third baseman Blake, who threw the ball to Belliard for a force out. But Belliard dropped the ball attempting to transfer it from his glove to his throwing hand, putting runners on first and third with two out.

Torre brought in left-handed reliever Hong-Chih Kuo to face left-handed-hitting Raul Ibanez, who momentarily put a charge into the crowd when he ripped Kuo's first pitch to left. But Ramirez silenced the crowd and elicited profanity from Howard in the dugout when he charged forward to make a shoestring catch.

The Dodgers plan to juggle their rotation for Game 5, starting Vicente Padilla ahead of Clayton Kershaw. Padilla has been the Dodgers' best starter in the postseason, allowing only one run in 14 1/3 innings during his team's victories over St. Louis and the Phillies.

Philadelphia will counter with Cole Hamels, who has not resembled the pitcher who twice defeated the Dodgers in the 2008 NLCS. He has not pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in either of his postseason starts this year, giving up four runs in each outing.

Source:http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-phillies20-2009oct20,0,7427549.story