SAN DIEGO (AP) – Rookie Robinson Tejeda pitched seven strong innings Sunday and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres 8-3, dropping the NL West leaders below .500.

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell had two-run singles in Philadelphia’s seven-run fifth inning, its biggest of the season. The first nine Phillies reached base on six hits, two errors, and a walk.

The Padres (58-59) became the first team to lead a division with a losing record this late in the season. The previous mark was held by the Texas Rangers, who topped the NL West at 52-62 on Aug. 11, 1994, the day before a labor strike ended the season.

San Diego, which has lost four of five, maintained its three-game lead over Arizona, which lost at Atlanta.

Tejeda (3-2) pitched longer than six innings for the first time in 11 starts. The right-hander allowed one run and three hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

The Phillies moved within a half-game of Houston in the NL wild-card race with their first road sweep of a three-game series this season.

San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene left the game in the fourth inning with a broken left big toe. It appeared that Greene may have been injured when he dove for Todd Pratt’s single to left field in the third inning. Television replays showed Greene wincing after getting off the turf.

Chan Ho Park (1-1) pitched four-plus innings, allowing six runs and five hits.

David Bell led off the fifth with a single and Pratt walked. Tejeda laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by catcher Miguel Olivio, whose throw to third sailed into left field for an error and allowed Bell to score for a 2-1 lead.

Kenny Lofton followed with a bloop RBI single that knocked Park from the game. Clay Hensley came in and gave up a two-run single to Utley before a throwing error by Eric Young loaded the bases. Burrell made it 7-1 with his single and Ryan Howard singled in the seventh run of the inning.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Howard’s RBI single. Brian Giles led off the bottom half with his 12th homer, which barely made it out as it hit on top of the right-field scoreboard and fell short of reaching the seats.

Tejeda allowed two hits in six shutout innings in his other start against the Padres, a 2-0 win on July 23 at Philadelphia.

The Padres scored twice in the eighth on a bases-loaded groundout by Ryan Klesko and a wild pitch by Rheal Cormier.

Notes: Tejeda had gone six innings in four other starts. … The Phillies have beaten San Diego 10 straight times, last losing on May 22, 2004, at Philadelphia.

AP-ES-08-14-05 1921EDT

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