Burrell Blasts Phils Past Rockies, Over 500

The Philadelphia Phillies looked to win their first series of the season against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night. Although it was just a two-game series, the Phils had a chance to move over the .500 mark while keeping their momentum going into Milwaukee.

The game featured Brett Myers against Jeff Francis in what continues to be a inter-conference rivalry since last year's Wild Card Playoff series.

Chase Utley continued to deliver early. In the third inning he smacked a two-run double to center field to get the Phillies on the board early.

The Rockies struck back right away when Todd Helton and Matt Holiday got back-to-back doubles off Brett Myers.

But in the fourth, Jeff Francis helped the Phillies tack on to their lead by walking in a run, giving Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.

The lead didn't last long, though, as Myers started to struggle against the Rockies lineup, giving up a lead-off triple to Brad Hawpe. Jeff Baker singled to bring in Hawpe. Two batters later, Jeff Francis bunted over Baker to move him into scoring position. Willy Tavares came to the plate and doubled to center field bringing in Baker and tying the game 3-3.

The Rockies took the lead in the fifth off a Matt Holliday home run, and the Phillies' Jason Werth tied it back up with a homer of his own.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh, things blew up on Brett Myers after a walk to Matt Holliday. Garrett Atkins homered on a line drive to left field, giving the Rockies the lead again.

In the top of the eighth, Pedro Feliz doubled to left field and was knocked in by pinch hitter Gregg Dobbs bringing the Phils within one.

In the top of the ninth, the Rockies brought in Manny Corpas to close out the game. The Phils had yet to score a run off Corpas in his short career, but were up to the challenge of changing that stat.

So Taguchi led off the inning with a single past Todd Helton. Chase Utley came to the plate two batters later and hit a line drive to center field; Taguchi moved to third base and Utley got to second on the throw. Corpas intentionally walked Ryan Howard to load the bases to try and force the double play.

Pat Burrell came to the plate with the hottest bat on the team and potentially in the league. With the count 2-2, Burrell hit a bomb to left-center field, but because the Rockies were shading towards right field, Willy Tavares couldn't get there in time. The ball fell in for a base clearing double.

The Phils took the lead 8-6, and in the bottom of the ninth Brad Lidge came in for the save.

The Phillies moved over the .500 mark for the first time this season and now head to Milwaukee to face the Brewers in a two-game set.