PHILADELPHIA — Roy Halladay pitched seven innings in his first start since his perfect game, working out of trouble to help the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night.
Shane Victorino homered and scored the go-ahead run on Jayson Werth’s two-out, bases-loaded walk against Mat Latos in the fifth.
Halladay (8-3) allowed 10 hits and walked one, but held San Diego to two runs in his first game since his gem at Florida last Saturday. The former Arvada West High School right-hander received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 45,080 as he walked in from the bullpen.
Jose Contreras and J.C. Romero combined to pitch the eighth, and Brad Lidge, a standout at Cherry Creek High, tossed a perfect ninth inning for his second save.
Latos (5-4) issued a season-high four walks in five innings, yielding three runs and four hits. The right-hander entered with a 1.29 ERA in his previous five outings.
The Phillies managed only six hits and struck out 11 times.
They were coming off a 2-7 trip to NL East rivals New York, Florida and Atlanta.
Halladay singled with one out in the third and scored on Victorino’s homer to right field. Victorino, the only Phillies batter to get two hits, added a double.
Tony Gwynn Jr. hit an RBI single in the second and Adrian Gonzalez added a sacrifice fly in the fifth for NL West-leading San Diego, which lost right fielder Will Venable in the fifth inning when he jammed his neck while sliding into third base. He was replaced by Chris Denorfia.
Umpire Jim Joyce, whose blown call at first base cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game Wednesday, was at third for the first game of the series. Joyce drew slight boos when the umpire crew was introduced before the game. He teared up again during a 15-minute interview.
“I was expecting the dark side; what am I going to do with my family?” he said. “It hasn’t happened. It happened for a couple of hours on Wednesday night, then all of a sudden everything flipped. I couldn’t be more thankful that it did. The biggest thing in my life is my family, and I’m so grateful that this has turned to the positive.”
