Afternoon slugfest ends with Philadelpha falling to Florida

MIAMI -- Like his devastating out pitch, Kyle Kendrick's fortunes can quickly sink without his sinker. Such was the case on a hot Florida afternoon on Saturday, when the sophomore struggled with his bread-and-butter offering, and the Marlins' batters capitalized in a 9-5 win at Dolphin Stadium. "His success and failure is on his sinker, and today, it didn't have the bite," catcher Chris Coste said. "The Marlins are a team that swings early and puts the ball in play. That should benefit a guy if his sinker is working, because they'll put it in play weakly. Today, it just didn't sink as much." Kendrick's problems allowed the Marlins to even the three-game series and negated a two-homer performance from Pat Burrell. Touched for seven runs on 10 hits, including a career-high three home runs allowed, Kendrick couldn't survive a problematic fifth inning. Kendrick started that frame with new life after his teammates tied the score for the second time in the game, thanks to the first of Burrell's homers. Jeremy Hermida gave Florida the lead immediately with a shot to right. "[It was a] fastball over the plate," Kendrick said. After an out, Josh Willingham singled, and Dan Uggla homered. "It was supposed to be a sinker away that was up and [in the] middle [of the plate]," Kendrick said. "My sinker just wasn't there. It was one of those days." Kendrick gave up three long balls for the first time in his 40 career starts, and he reached another career high with seven earned runs allowed. The 10 hits given up also tied a career high. The Marlins, who lead the league in home runs, got another long ball from backup catcher John Baker, a three-run shot in the second. Scott Olsen survived five innings for Florida, which pulled within 1 1/2 games of first-place Philadelphia in the National League East. The Mets began Saturday a game out, and would tie the Phillies win a win over the Reds on Saturday night. Kendrick didn't want to use the additional rest he received over the All-Star break as an excuse. He hadn't pitched since July 11, when he gave up four runs to Arizona. The righty dropped to 8-4, though Philadelphia is 14-6 in his 20 starts this season. "He had a lot of baserunners all game," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He was scuffling. They could have scored more runs. He had a rough day. I'm sure he'll bounce back. You're going to get hit on some days, and they're a good-hitting team." The Phillies also could've scored more runs, but they squandered a chance in the second inning. Ryan Howard opened with a single and went to third on Burrell's double. Howard then tried to score on a grounder to third by Jayson Werth, but was gunned down by third baseman Jorge Cantu. Because Howard ran, Philadelphia ended up with runners on first and second with one out, instead of second and third, so Cantu's two errors on the next play, a grounder by Pedro Feliz, allowed Burrell to score. Trying for a double play, Cantu bobbled the ball and then threw wildly to first. Werth, who made it to third on the play, was out on another grounder to third by Coste, but he tried to score because Kendrick was on deck. "Getting two guys thrown out at home wasn't good," Manuel said, who added that he thought Howard's decision was a "mistake." The Phillies had a chance to tie the game in the ninth, when they loaded the bases with one out with Howard and Burrell coming up. Marlins closer Kevin Gregg recovered to strike out Howard on three pitches, and he jammed Burrell, forcing a grounder to short. "I had faith we're going to tie the game there," Manuel said. "We've got the tying run at the plate and two big guys who can hit the ball out of the yard. Their pitcher did a good job." "The ball ran in on me," Burrell said, whose two homers moved him into third place on the Phillies' all-time home run list. "We had a chance to win there, so it stings. It hurts."