By The Canadian Press

When Jimmy Rollins saw New York reliever Duaner Sanchez come out to pitch the ninth inning instead of starter Johan Santana or closer Billy Wagner, he went straight to the batting tee to stay loose.

It didn't matter that he was due up sixth and the Philadelphia Phillies trailed by three runs. He thought they had a chance. The ever-optimistic NL MVP was right.

Philadelphia feasted on New York's makeshift bullpen for six runs with Wagner unavailable because of an injury, and Rollins hit a go-ahead two-run double to help the Phillies to an 8-6 victory Tuesday night to take back sole possession of first place in the NL East.

"It started last year," Rollins said, referring to the Phillies' comeback from seven games behind the Mets with 17 to play to win the division. "You never give up."

The teams entered the three-game series tied for first after the Mets trailed the Phillies by 5 1/2 games on July 4. The Florida Marlins are tied with New York, one game back.

After Santana pitched eight dominant innings, the Mets had to make do without Wagner, who has muscle spasms around his left shoulder joint.

Manager Jerry Manuel said Wagner's availability would be a midgame decision based on how the left-hander felt. But after batting practice he was told it would be better if Wagner took another day off.

"After seeing that, you can't help feeling that you want to be out there," said Wagner, who has 24 saves in 30 chances. "A lot of different things might have happened if I was out there. I'd rather be the guy standing here taking the blame instead of letting my teammates suck on this one."

Manuel turned to Sanchez, a setup man, and he gave up three straight hits to start the ninth. Joe Smith (1-2) relieved and Carlos Ruiz drove in a run with a high bouncer that shortstop Jose Reyes fielded but missed stepping on second base instead of flipping to Damion Easley.

"His mistake was not giving the ball up," said Rollins, a fellow shortstop. "He already made the highlights by making the barehanded grab."

Shane Victorino hustled into second to prevent the first out of the inning.

"Big play of the game was Victorino beating the ball down to second base," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who was ejected in the third inning. "That's why we talk about hustle."

Elsewhere in the NL it was: Florida 4, Atlanta 0; Cincinnati 4, San Diego 3; Pittsburgh 8, Houston 2; Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 3; Colorado 10, Los Angeles 1; Arizona 9, Chicago 2; and San Francisco 6, Washington 3.

At New York, Pedro Feliciano relieved and pinch-hitter So Taguchi, who was 0-for-16 coming in, stroked a two-run double to tie it.

Rollins followed with a double that made it 7-5. After an intentional walk to Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard hit a ball back to Feliciano but he had trouble fielding it and could only get one out allowing another run to score.

Chad Durbin (3-2) pitched a perfect eighth, and Brad Lidge gave up a run in the ninth but finished for his 22nd save in as many chances.

The Phillies, who entered hitting just .248 over the last 13 games when they went 6-7, could have had a much bigger deficit to make up had they not made two big defensive plays in the seventh.

"I guess we could put the whole notion of not getting timely hitting away for a day," Manuel said.

Right-fielder Jayson Werth threw out Endy Chavez at home on a hit by David Wright, and second baseman Chase Utley made a diving grab of pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis' liner with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The last time Santana faced the Phillies on July 4, he gave up two runs in eight innings but the Mets lost 3-2. On Tuesday, he allowed an RBI single to Werth in the first and Victorino's homer in the seventh after he retired 15 of 16 batters. He had four strikeouts, including the 1,500th of his career.

Jerry Manuel said he might have let Santana start the ninth if he hadn't given up a double to Burrell in the eighth.

The Mets took a 5-1 lead against Joe Blanton behind Carlos Delgado's 450th career homer, a two-run shot, Raul Castro's two-run homer and Wright's RBI double in the second - Chavez was thrown out at home on a nice relay started by left fielder Burrell.

Blanton was making his first start for the Phillies since being acquired from Oakland last week to solidify a shaky rotation. He took the spot of Adam Eaton, who was 3-8 with a 5.71 ERA.

Blanton came in having thrown 15 shutout innings against the Mets in two starts for the A's and he looked as if he were pitching to form until he walked Reyes on four pitches to open the third. He gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings.

Charlie Manuel was ejected by umpire Marty Foster after the third inning when he went to ask Foster why he tossed coach Milt Thomson after Thomson disputed a checked-swing call by the third base umpire. Thomson yelled at Foster from the bench after he ruled Delgado did not go around on the swing before his homer. It was Manuel's third ejection this season.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 3

At St. Louis, Bill Hall homered to snap a late-inning tie for the second straight game and Milwaukee won its sixth straight.

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Marlins 4, Braves 0

At Miami, Rick VandenHurk and three relievers combined on a one-hitter, and Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer for Florida.

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Reds 4, Padres 3 (11 innings)

At Cincinnati, Jeff Keppinger's one-out double in the 11th sent Cincinnati to a rare victory in a game started by San Diego's Jake Peavy.

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Pirates 8, Astros 2

At Houston, Paul Maholm went eight strong innings and Freddy Sanchez homered for the second straight game for Pittsburgh.

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Rockies 10, Dodgers 1

At Denver, Ubaldo Jimenez threw a four-hitter in his first career complete game and Ian Stewart homered and drove in four runs for Colorado.

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Diamondbacks 9, Cubs 2

At Phoenix, Yusmeiro Petit allowed one run over five innings and Conor Jackson drove in three runs with a homer and two-run double to lead Arizona.

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Giants 6, Nationals 3

At San Francisco, Bengie Molina hit a two-run homer and a solo shot, and Barry Zito won his second straight decision for the Giants.

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The Toronto Blue Jays' one night stay in the AL East basement was mercifully short.

Adam Lind had a career-high four hits, including a three-run homer, and light-hitting John McDonald had four RBIs to rally Toronto past the Baltimore Orioles 10-8 on Tuesday night to climb

The victory improved Toronto's record under Gaston to 14-12. One reason for his success has been the hitting of Lind, who is 27-for-78 (.346) with five homers and 22 RBIs in 22 games since his recall from triple-A Syracuse on June 21.

"I struggled a little when I first came back, then I just turned myself over to the staff and put my future in their hands," Lind said. "I am a believer. When you say you have Cito Gaston as your manager ... even my friends said, 'You have a guy like that, you listen to him. He has got to know what he's talking about."'

Alex Rios homered for the Blue Jays, who trailed 4-0 after three innings and 7-6 after five.

"It's just a good feeling to win like we did tonight, coming back the way we did," Lind said.

Toronto's comeback took some of the sting away from a poor performance by Shaun Marcum, making his first start in over a month after being sidelined with elbow soreness. Marcum gave up seven runs and eight hits, including three home runs, in 4 2-3 innings.

"He put some pitches up and was not as sharp as he is going to be," Gaston said. "I'm glad we came away with the win for his sake. I'm sure Shaun feels he let the team down."

Elsewhere in the AL it was: New York 8, Minnesota 2; Oakland 8, Tampa Bay 1; Chicago 10, Texas 2; Boston 4, Seattle 2; Los Angeles 3, Cleveland 2; and Detroit 7, Kansas City 1.

At Baltimore, Jesse Carlson (2-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings of one-hit relief and B.J. Ryan worked the ninth for his 19th save. Ryan gave up a two-out RBI single to Melvin Mora and then issued two walks to load the bases before retiring Ramon Hernandez on a fly ball.

Mora went 4-for-5 with a season-high five RBIs for Baltimore. In six games since the All-Star break, he is 12-for-24 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.

"In scoring position, I like the RBIs. I've been doing that all year long," said Mora, who took over the team lead in RBIs with 62.

Nick Markakis and Hernandez homered for the Orioles, who have lost 10 of 14.

The Blue Jays took the lead for good with a three-run sixth. After Fernando Cabrera (0-1) retired the first two batters, he gave up a single and a walk. Alberto Castillo entered, and Lind hit the left-hander's second pitch over the scoreboard in right.

"That was the pitch I wanted," Castillo said. "I just hung a slider and he is a good hitter and took a good swing. Just one bad pitch."

Rod Barajas added an RBI single in the eighth.

Orioles starter Garrett Olson allowed six runs and a season-high nine hits in 4 2-3 innings. The rookie has given up 18 runs in his last three starts.

"If he trusts his stuff and attacks the hitters maybe a little more aggressively, he'd probably find the outcome to be a little bit more positive for him," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "But that's something he's going to have to figure out on his own."

After Olson yielded five runs in the fifth, Mora hit a two-run homer and Hernandez added a solo shot in the bottom half to put the Orioles up 7-6. It would be Baltimore's final lead.

Markakis hit a two-run homer in the first, and a two-run double by Mora made it 4-0 in the third.

"When you're facing a guy like Marcum and you get the runs off him early, you think you're going to be in a situation where you're going to have a good chance to win the game," Trembley said. "But you take nothing for granted. We let them back in the game and we just couldn't stop them."

The Blue Jays got a fourth-inning run on a sacrifice fly by McDonald, but left the bases loaded for the second time.

That shortcoming was corrected in the fifth. After Rios led off with a homer, the Blue Jays loaded the bases with two outs for McDonald, who doubled off the left-field wall to chase Olson and put Toronto ahead 5-4.

McDonald came in with a .190 batting average and two RBIs in 36 games.

"Every time I get a chance to play, I try to do something to get myself back in the lineup," he said. "You always want to contribute, and I haven't been able to do that as much as I would have liked to."

Athletics 8, Rays 1

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Dallas Braden allowed one run over five innings as Oakland ended a six-game losing streak with an 8-1 victory over Tampa Bay.

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Yankees 8, Twins 2

At New York, Bobby Abreu hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth and drove in three runs to lead the Yankees to their ninth consecutive victory at home.

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White Sox 10, Rangers 2

At Chicago, Mark Buehrle pitched 7 1-3 innings and Alexei Ramirez hit the first grand slam of his career for Chicago.

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Red Sox 4, Mariners 2

At Seattle, Daisuke Matsuzaka continued his masterful pitching away from Fenway Park, and J.D. Drew hit a first-inning homer for Boston.

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Angels 3, Indians 2

At Anaheim, Calif., Jeff Mathis hit a go-ahead solo homer in the fifth inning to lead Los Angeles.

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Tigers 7, Royals 1

At Kansas City, Mo., Kenny Rogers pitched six strong innings and Placido Polanco homered and drove in two runs for Detroit.

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