Duckworth Strikes Out 11 but Bullpen Blows 6-0 Lead in Loss to Marlins

MIAMI — Once Brandon Duckworth departed, the Florida Marlins found their offense.

Preston Wilson and Kevin Millar delivered two-out RBI doubles in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Marlins overcame a six-run deficit and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-6.

	The Marlins celebrate after Kevin Millar scores the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to complete a comeback after trailing 6-0. (AP)

Duckworth, the Phillies' starter, had his way with the Marlins, recording a career-high 11 strikeouts in six-plus innings.

Duckworth gave up three hits and left with a 6-1 lead after Mike Lowell opened the seventh with a home run. He departed after throwing 113 pitches.

"It's just the decision you make and you have to live with it," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "He had a 30-pitch first inning and we felt he had enough at the point we took him out. The home run wasn't as much of a factor other than he had thrown a lot of pitches."

"I had no problem with the manager's decision," Duckworth said. "You have a big lead and you never think a comeback like that is going to happen. It's just unfortunate that we couldn't hold it."

Jose Santiago relieved and surrendered a three-run homer to Andy Fox later in the inning and Florida got a run off Ricky Bottalico in the eighth. The Marlins completed their comeback in the ninth against closer Jose Mesa (0-1).

Mike Redmond started the bottom of the ninth with a single. Eric Owens sacrificed pinch runner Marty Malloy over and Mesa struck out Fox for the second out. But Millar delivered the first of the key hits, lining a 1-1 pitch off the left field scoreboard to tie it.

Wilson followed by sending a 3-2 pitch over the head of center fielder Doug Glanville, scoring Millar with the winning run. In Saturday's win over Atlanta, Wilson singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

"It's every ballplayers greatest moment in the game to get the game-winning hit and to have it happen twice in three games, is awesome," Wilson said. "You want to come up in that situation with the mindset that you could produce for the team and Im happy to be able to do it again."

"This is the third time in the last four games that we were down significantly early on and rallied to win," Marlins manager Jeff Torborg said. "Wow, that's a huge win for this young ballclub. We might look back on this one as a catalyst. I said all along that this is a very special team with lots of character and it was proven again tonight."

Gary Knotts (2-0) retired the side in order in the top of the ninth for the win.

The Phillies gave Duckworth an early lead to work, pushing across two runs in the second inning. Travis Lee grounded out to plate a run and a wild pitch by Julian Tavarez made it 2-0.

Tavarez got the surprise start in place of Brady Penny, who was scratched with the flu. Tavarez struggled as he allowed six runs — three earned — and seven hits over six innings, walking three, hitting a franchise-record three batters and throwing two wild pitches.

Scott Rolen's RBI groundout in the third made it 3-0 and he had added an RBI double in the fifth. Tavarez uncorked another wild pitch in the fifth, giving Philadelphia a 5-0 advantage.

Jimmy Rollins laced an RBI single in the sixth for a six-run cushion.

That lead looked like it would be enough for Duckworth, who endured his toughest inning in the first when he worked around a pair walks. He struck out at least one batter in each inning, including fanning the side in the fifth.

But Lowell hit his third homer in the seventh, getting the Marlins on the board.

Santiago retired the first batter he faced before allowing a pair of singles around a groundout. He could not work his way out of it as Fox homered, bringing the Marlins within 6-4.

A run-scoring groundout by Derrek Lee in the eighth set the stage for the Marlins' heroics in the ninth.

ComcastSportsNet.com wire services