Phillies win second in a row over Giants, 9-7

At the least, the last two days have had to change what had been a dour mood surrounding the Philllies, fueled by constant losing.

For the first time in more than a month, the Phillies can claim a winning streak - two games - after their 9-7 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies (19-35) hadn't won consecutive games since earning six straight wins, with the last one coming April 27. Sunday's win followed Saturday's 5-3 victory over the disappointing Giants.

That two victories gave the Phillies the series win, snapping a stretch of 10 consecutive series losses.

"We feel pretty good right now," said third baseman Maikel Franco, who broke a 7-7 tie with a solo homer run to center field off Derek Law leading off the eighth inning. "The last two games we showed a lot of energy and played the game the right way."

Even more significant from the Phillies' perspective is that three players who have struggled this year came up big at the plate. Odubel Herrera had three hits for the first time this year, with two doubles and a home run. In the last two games, Herrera is 5 for 8 with four doubles, a home run, and six RBIs.

Shortstop Freddy Galvis had his first multi-homer game in the majors, and it was the first time on any level that he homered from both sides of the plate in the same game.

"It's pretty cool, the first time in my life I did that," Galvis said. "I have hit two from the same side, but never different sides of the plate, and it is awesome."

Galvis became the first Phillies player to homer from both sides of the plate in a game since Jimmy Rollins accomplished the feat on July 20, 2011, in a 9-1 win in Chicago against the Cubs.

Now batting .236, Galvis hit his second homer in the eighth inning, one out after Franco gave the Phillies the lead. In the second inning, Galvis hit a two-run homer off starter Matt Moore to extend the Phillies' lead to 4-1.

On Sunday, Galvis, Franco and Herrera combined to go 6 for 12 with four home runs and seven RBIs.

Franco, who hit .213 in April and .218 in May, is now 4 for 12 in three June games - a small sample, but one that encourages him.

"This feels really good to me," Franco said. "[May] was a tough month for me, but I try to throw that away and just think about day to day, game to game, and try to do everything I can to do better."

Righthander Hector Neris, who allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning Saturday, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his fifth save.

San Francisco (23-35) got two hits, including a homer and four RBIs, from shortstop Brandon Crawford. His two-run single in the seventh against Luis Garcia gave the Giants a 7-6 lead.

Herrera tied the score on an RBI double in the bottom of the inning and Franco provided the lead for good in the eighth.

Of course, not all the news was upbeat. Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson allowed five runs (three earned) in 51/3 innings. He allowed four hits, but also walked four.

Since posting a 1.80 ERA in April, Hellickson has recorded an ERA of 6.75 in his last seven starts.

He issued three walks in five April starts and has walked 16 in his seven starts since.

"I am still walking too many guys," Hellickson said. "I think with all the walks I was ahead in the count too, so I have to get better with two strikes."

Even seeing Hellickson struggled to find consistency wasn't enough to dampen the mood in the clubhouse.

"It was a great win, good to win a series for a change and it is really uplifting for the team," said manager Pete Mackanin, whose team will begin a nine-game road trip Monday in Atlanta. "[Saturday] was a good game for the team and I was hoping it would spark us and it sure did."

mnarducci@phillynews.com

@sjnard