Phillies walk off with Helton assist

Philadelphia — A lot of hustle and a little luck worked out for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Todd Helton missed tagging first base to allow the winning run to score on Placido Polanco’s grounder in the ninth inning and the Phillies rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies, 7-6, on Wednesday night.

After Dexter Fowler hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Jonathan Papelbon (1-2) with two outs in the ninth, the Phillies got a clutch, two-out hit of their own in the bottom half.

Rafael Betancourt (1-3) retired the first two batters before Ty Wigginton hit a single to left. Hunter Pence ripped a double off the wall in left to score Wigginton, who was running on the pitch.

Carlos Ruiz was intentionally walked and Shane Victorino beat out an infield single on a grounder to shortstop. Polanco then hit a grounder to shortstop Marco Scutaro, whose throw to first was a bit high, but Helton caught it and had time to beat a charging Polanco to the bag. He stretched for first and missed. Helton, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, was charged with his second error of the season, and the Phillies stormed out of the dugout to celebrate.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I thought the ball was to the outfield,” Helton said. “There’s no excuse. I should have been there.”

It wouldn’t have mattered if Victorino and Polanco hadn’t gone all-out down the line.

“When you’re not doing the big things, the little things work to your advantage,” Victorino said. “Hopefully it’ll kick start something.”

Polanco isn’t known for his speed, so Scutaro didn’t have to rush the throw.

“I thought I was out on the way,” Polanco said. “When I got close to the bag, I saw he was off and I had a chance.”

Wilin Rosario, Michael Cuddyer and Chris Nelson hit homers for Colorado, which has lost 12 of 13.

Michael Martinez homered for the Phillies, who are 5-12 since beating Miami on June 1.

“That was a big finish for us,” Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. “Just hustling at the end got us the win. That’s why you hustle.”