Phillies Go Down in 11th.

Jose Cruz Jr. hits much better than he bunts.

Cruz broke a scoreless tie with an RBI double, and six Toronto pitchers combined on a four-hitter as the Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 in 11 innings Thursday night.

Shannon Stewart led off the 11th with an infield single off Jose Santiago (0-2). After fouling off two sacrifice bunt attempts, Cruz lined a 2-2 pitch into the gap in left-center field, scoring Stewart to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

Raul Mondesi lined a single to right-center on the next pitch, scoring Cruz.

"He has a real good slider and he threw it away, too far for me to bunt it and I kept chasing it," Cruz said. "You just have to battle. Fortunately for me, I got good wood on it and hit the ball right over the shortstop`s head."

Kelvim Escobar (1-4) struck out two in the 10th, and Billy Koch gave up Jimmy Rollins` sacrifice fly RBI in the 11th before picking up his 17th save in 20 chances.

Philadelphia, in first place after the All-Star break for the first time since 1993, fell into a tie with Atlanta for the lead in the NL East after the Braves beat Baltimore 6-5 Thursday.

The Phillies, who tied the Chicago Cubs for worst record in the majors last season, had won eight of 11 after getting swept by the Braves at Veterans Stadium last month.

"Our pitching was great. We just didn`t score any runs," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said.

Blue Jays starter Chris Carpenter allowed three hits, struck out six and walked one in seven innings. He gave up just one hit after the first inning and left after retiring 13 straight.

Paul Quantrill pitched the eighth, Pedro Borbon got one out in the ninth and Bob File, a Philadelphia native, got the last two outs.

"It wasn`t the best stuff I had all year, but my changeup was there, my slider was there and I kept them off-balance," Carpenter said.

David Coggin, making his third start since being called up from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, allowed three hits, struck out six and walked two in eight innings. He gave up one hit after the fourth inning.

Coggin has allowed one run and six hits in his last 15 innings.

"There were some things I could have done better, but I threw pretty good," Coggin said. "I kept the ball down and didn`t get behind too much."

Jose Mesa pitched the ninth and Rheal Cormier worked the 10th for the Phillies.

Toronto had a runner thrown out at the plate in the fourth and the Phillies didn`t get a runner to third the entire game until Tomas Perez doubled and moved to third on a grounder in the 11th.

Cruz got the first hit off Coggin -- a double with one out in the fourth. After Mondesi flied out, Carlos Delgado was intentionally walked. Luis Lopez then lined a single to center, but Doug Glanville nailed Cruz at the plate with a perfect, one-hop strike.

The Phillies` best threat off Carpenter came in the first when Glanville led off with a single and Bobby Abreu singled with one out. But Scott Rolen struck out and Travis Lee grounded out to end the inning.

"The pitchers were outstanding, but at the same time, when we had an opportunity late in the game, the hitters cashed in for us," Toronto manager Buck Martinez said.

Game notes:
The Phillies have been in first place for all but four days this season. Only the Seattle Mariners have been in first longer. ... Cruz`s double in the fourth was his 500th career hit. He has an eight-game hitting streak and has an RBI in six straight. ... Coggin hadn`t pitched more than seven innings in any of his seven starts.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News