ATLANTA -- Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg sensed it would be a good night for Kyle Kendrick when the right-hander threw his first six pitches for strikes. "They were quality pitches, and it pretty much lasted throughout the outing," Sandberg said. "Probably his best outing of the year as far as establishing command and the quality of pitches." Ryan Howard homered, Kendrick won consecutive starts for the first time in 11 months and the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 5-2 on Tuesday night. The Phillies, winners of two straight and six of eight, got a solid start from Kendrick (3-6), who had gone 2-11 in his previous 20 starts since last Aug. 11. Kendrick allowed six hits and two runs with one walk and six strikeouts in seven innings. Not since he beat Washington last July 11 and won at the New York Mets last July 19 had Kendrick won two straight starts. The right-hander was coming off a 7-3 victory last week against San Diego. "I was able to get ahead most of the night," Kendrick said. "I was down and trying to pound the strike zone. I think that was the main thing. In the first inning, most of (the pitches) were down." Atlanta has lost seven of 11 and 13 of 21. Ervin Santana (5-4) continued to struggle, giving up eight hits and four runs -- three earned -- with three walks in six innings. Santana, who struck out five, is 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA in his last seven starts. "It was a little better, yeah, but it was it tough battling out there," Santana said. "The pitch that Howard hit was a good pitch. Just one of those days." The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the first when Jimmy Rollins led off with a double and Howard hit his 13th homer. In 71 career games at Turner Field, Howard is hitting .277 with 20 homers and 69 RBIs. Howard also homered in Mondays 6-1, 13-inning victory. "Youre just trying to find some real estate, trying to get a good pitch to hit," Howard said. "I was fortunate enough to do that. It landed on the other side of the fence and gave us an early lead." Philadelphia, which had its leadoff hitter reach safely in eight innings, went up 4-0 in the fourth. Dominic Brown led off with a walk, advanced to third on Reid Brignacs double and scored on a passed ball by Gerald Laird. Brignac, who moved to third on the passed ball, scored on Cesar Hernandezs RBI single. Atlanta made it 4-1 in the fourth on Jason Heywards RBI single. The Braves cut the lead to 4-2 in the seventh when Chris Johnson led off with a double, moved to third Andrelton Simmons single and scored on Lairds double-play groundout. Simmons, named last years top defender in the NL, had a rare two-error inning in the ninth that helped Marlon Byrd reach second on an infield single and score from third on Browns fielders choice grounder for a 5-2 lead. Closer Jonathan Papelbon recovered from a blown save Monday to record his 16th save in 18 chances. Papelbon retired pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit on a lineout, Tommy La Stella on a groundout and Johnson on a lineout. NOTES: The Braves announced that LF Justin Upton left the game after six innings because of dizziness. ... Philadelphia CF Ben Revere missed the game with a sore knee after hitting the wall Monday. Sandberg said Revere is day-to-day. John Mayberry Jr. started in Reveres place. ... Phillies LHP Cliff Lee, on the DL since May 20 with a strained elbow, threw off a mound before the game. ... Phillies 2B Chase Utley walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. ... Braves RHP David Carpenter was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained right biceps. RHP Pedro Beato, recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett, pitched a scoreless seventh, but walked the bases loaded in the eighth. ... Braves C Evan Gattis, who got the night off, has a franchise-long 16-game hitting streak for a catcher. Del Crandall, in 1958, and Joe Torre, in 1967, had 15-game streaks. Cheap Lightning Jerseys . But back-up Peter Budaj has put up two wins and an overtime loss while starting three games in four nights since Price went down with a suspected groin injury. Cheap Adidas Lightning Jerseys . However, it wasnt a problem on Monday night. Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves for his 56th career shutout in the New York Islanders 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. http://www.cheaplightningjerseys.com/ . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Wholesale Lightning Jerseys . The team let Keaton Ellerby, James Wright and Matt Halischuk become unrestricted free agents after declining to make them qualifying offers. Ellerby, 25, appeared in 51 games for the Jets last season and had two goals and four assists. Cheap Lightning Jerseys Authentic . - Christophe Lalancette scored a third-period goal and added the shootout winner to lead the Drummondville Voltigeurs to a 5-4 win over the Quebec Remparts in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play on Sunday.EDMONTON -- Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish feels optimistic about his teams future despite a last-place finish in the Western Conference standings. MacTavish gave his head coach a vote of confidence Tuesday and said while its hard to determine where the team is in its development stage, he feels most of the "heavy lifting" has been done. "Were closer to the end in my mind than we are to the beginning in terms of the development of this team," MacTavish said Tuesday at a season-ending media availability. Expectations were higher in Edmonton this season but the team struggled from the start and finished with a 29-44-9 record for 67 points, good for a 28th-place finish in the 30-team league. There were a few bright lights for the Oilers. Taylor Hall had a strong year with 80 points in 75 games and fellow forwards Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had productive campaigns. Defensive woes were a constant problem. The Oilers struggled on the blue-line and between the pipes, allowing a league-worst 270 goals. MacTavish has no plans to add anything "middle of the road" to the current defence core and feels the teams younger players can fill those positions. He does plan to target a high-end defenceman in the off-season. "We need a few pieces that can really move this thing along," said MacTavish. The GM added that Eakins -- who completedd his first season as an NHL head coach -- has a bright future with the team.dddddddddddd "Im convinced this guy is the right coach to lead us into much more successful times ... hes relentless," MacTavish said. Despite the foundation of young, talented offensive players, the Oilers managed only 203 goals. The goaltending situation was unsettled throughout the season as netminder Devan Dubnyk struggled in the starters role. Dubnyk was dealt to Nashville at the trade deadline and the Oilers acquired Ben Scrivens from Los Angeles. Scrivens and fellow mid-season acquisition Viktor Fasth posted decent numbers as Edmonton finished with a 14-13-3 mark over its last 30 games. MacTavish said there is plenty of work ahead and admitted the team did not live up to expectations. But he likes the young core and is confident improvement can be made. "Were building our team around this group," he said. "And you have to have pieces in that locker-room that you view as guys that are going to develop into winners and guys that are going to develop into superstars. "I feel strongly that we have a number of those pieces in there and those are the guys were going to build that team around. I want them to feel the ownership, I want them to feel the loyalty from myself and the coaching staff that we have the confidence in them to drive this team forward." 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