Phillies beat D'backs with two-run rally in ninth

PHOENIX - Sixteen years ago, Ryan Howard and Brad Ziegler forged a friendship as teammates at Southwest Missouri State, a relationship so close that Ziegler once admitted he cried as Howard captured a championship in 2008 with the Phillies. The two men have seen almost everything in baseball, and on Tuesday night, they stared at each other with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of a tie game.

Howard did not blink.

The Phillies were 0-41 when trailing after eight innings until they beat Arizona, 4-3, because Howard drew a seven-pitch walk against his old buddy. It scored the eventual winning run. The Phillies survived on a night when their pitchers faced endless trouble.

They won back-to-back games for the first time since May 17-18. They won a series after losing their previous 12.

"A great comeback," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "It reminded me of the way we played for the first two months of the season. We stayed in the game and scratched and clawed to just eke out a win. It was fun to see."

A Jimmy Paredes double and Andres Blanco single tied the game on four Ziegler pitches.

"To start an inning like that," Blanco said, "it's a rally right away."

Odubel Herrera singled and Peter Bourjos walked to load the bases for the embattled Howard, who discovered patience at an important time. Jeanmar Gomez made it stand with his 21st save.

Too often in recent weeks, Mackanin has asked his relievers to shoulder the load. The Phillies' young rotation has reached a breaking point.

Jerad Eickhoff continued into the sixth, even without his best stuff and an escalating pitch count. He started Yasmany Tomas with two strikes, then three balls. Tomas fouled off a fastball. He mashed a hanging slider to tie the score at 2-2.

"I didn't like the way he was throwing in the sixth inning," Mackanin said. "But our bullpen has been really overworked. I wanted to stretch him out as long as I could. I know he's a bulldog and he's capable."

"I didn't obviously go as deep as I'd like," Eickhoff said. "It was just a battle. They were taking good pitches."

Phillies starters have averaged 4 2/3 innings in the last 20 games. The starter has pitched fewer than seven innings in 19 of the last 20 games. Jeremy Hellickson, on June 20, went seven innings. That's it.

David Hernandez pitched for the fifth time in eight games. In his second inning of work Tuesday, he surrendered a deep seventh-inning homer to Jake Lamb to push Arizona ahead. Hernandez has an 11.88 ERA in his last seven games.

Hector Neris pitched for the 41st time in 79 games; he leads baseball in appearances. He is on pace to pitch in more games than any Phillies reliever since Kent Tekulve logged a franchise-record 90 games in 1987.

Eickhoff allowed the leadoff man to reach base six times. Two times, that batter scored. The damage should have been greater. A Diamondbacks runner reached third base with no outs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Eickhoff stranded him each time.

Had the Phillies not overused their bullpen in recent weeks, that could have signaled the end of Eickhoff's night. He needed 91 pitches for five innings. He was not his sharpest. An inconsistent strike zone complicated matters. But Mackanin opted to extend Eickhoff into the sixth.

That is when Tomas struck.

Even with Zack Greinke out of the game after two innings because of tightness in his left side, the Phillies failed to sustain a rally until the ninth inning. Maikel Franco bashed a 400-foot solo homer in the fifth inning. He struck out in the ninth with the bases loaded, which left it to Howard.

"I'm sure he would have preferred a grand slam to win the game," Mackanin said, "but I'm sure he's happy with getting that run across."

Without a swing, Howard had conquered his friend.

mgelb@philly.com

@MattGelb