PHILADELPHIA – Jorge Cantu, Mike Jacobs and Cody Ross homered and the Florida Marlins held off the Philadelphia Phillies for a 10-8 victory on Tuesday night.

The Phillies fell 21/2 games behind the NL East-leading New York Mets. They began the day three games behind Milwaukee in the wild-card race.

Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 41st homer, but Philadelphia, which trailed 9-1, couldn’t overcome a terrible outing by Kyle Kendrick (11-9), who allowed seven runs and six hits in 1 1-3 innings.

Marlins starter Chris Volstad left after three innings with a bruised right leg. He was hit by Carlos Ruiz’s hard grounder leading off the third.

Reliever Eulogio De La Cruz allowed six runs and five hits in two-plus innings, nearly blowing the eight-run lead. Kevin Gregg (7-8) retired the side in the seventh. Matt Lindstrom, the Marlins’ eighth pitcher, got the final out for his second save.

AP-ES-09-09-08 2240EDT