Jordan Continues Assault on Padres

Ricky Jordan is taking his line drives downtown.

Jordan homered twice on Thursday, giving him three homers and eight RBIs in two days, as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres 9-6 Thursday.

Fred McGriff hit a pair of two-run homers for the Padres, giving him seven. He extended his hitting streak to 14 games, matching Brett Butler of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the major-league high.

So, can Jordan hit 40 homers this year?

“Don’t look for that, no,” he laughed. “Fred McGriff might.

“I’m just trying to hit the ball into the alleys,” Jordan said. “I’m a line-drive hitter. You look -- I’ll be hitting line drives to left in batting practice tomorrow.”

Jordan, who hit a grand slam in Philadelphia’s 5-2 victory Wednesday night, hit leadoff homers in the second and seventh innings and added a two-run single in the five-run fourth.

Jordan’s first homer was to left-center field off loser Derek Lilliquist (0-2) and the second was straight down the left-field line off John Costello. Jordan, who has four homers, is 14-for-29 with 13 RBIs in his last eight games.

“He’s seeing the ball and is right on anything they throw,” manager Jim Fregosi said.

Terry Mulholland (4-2) allowed eight hits in eight innings and equaled his career high with eight strikeouts. Mitch Williams finished for his seventh save.

Mulholland has gone eight innings in each of his last three starts.

“It would’ve been a lot better if I had been able to close it out,” Mulholland said. “I’d really like to complete a few ballgames this year. But I’ll take it.”

Mulholland said he’s not normally a strikeout pitcher.

“I like to use my defensive guys,” he said. But I was a little more fired up after they scored two runs in the fourth (on McGriff’s first homer).”

Mulholland then struck out six batters in the next three innings.

Lilliquist (0-2) gave up nine hits and seven earned runs in 3 2-3 innings.

Philadelphia, 5-2 against San Diego this season, has won five of its last six series against the Padres.

Atlanta moved past San Diego into first place in the National League West by six percentage points. The Braves hadn’t been first this late in the season since June 9, 1984.

Jordan’s first homer and Von Hayes’ RBI double gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead in the second. San Diego scored in the third on Lilliquist’s RBI groundout.

Lilliquist was chased by five singles in the fourth, including RBI hits by Steve Lake, Randy Ready and John Kruk. Jordan hit a two-run single off Wes Gardner.

McGriff homered in the fourth and Jordan’s second homer made it 8-3 in the seventh. Tony Fernandez singled for a run in San Diego’s eighth. Jordan scored on Steve Rosenberg’s wild pitch in the ninth and McGriff homered in the bottom of the inning to chase Mulholland.

McGriff averaged 35 homers each of the last three years while with the Toronto Blue Jays. He has six homers in his streak.