Braves strike in eighth to down Phillies

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Atlanta Braves used an eighth inning rally to beat the spiraling Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 on Thursday, moving to within two games from first place in the National League East Division.

Matt Diaz hit a go-ahead double to hand a 3-2 lead and Garret Anderson followed with a pinch-hit home run against reliever Ryan Madson, giving Atlanta their fourth straight win and continued success over the defending World Series champions.

"We''re right in the middle of it," Diaz told reporters. "I said going into the series, if we win two of three we''re right in it, and if we lost two of three we might be out of it.

"To win all three - this is big for us."

Atlanta are 7-2 this season against Philadelphia (39-37), who have lost 14 of their last 18 contests to slip back into a tie for the NL East lead with the Florida Marlins.

Philadelphia''s J.A. Happ (5-0) stayed sharp since being moved from the bullpen to a starting role, throwing seven innings and striking out five while allowing two runs in the fourth, where the Braves (38-40) took a 2-0 lead on a Casey Kotchman two-run home run.

The Phillies tied the game on RBIs from Greg Dobbs and Pedro Feliz in the sixth but were shutdown late by Atlanta''s strong bullpen.

Peter Moylan relieved Braves starter Javier Vazquez in the sixth and allowed just one hit in 1 1/3 innings while Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano nailed down the eighth and ninth innings respectively.

Vazquez entered the contest having lost four of his last five decisions but rebounded with a performance that included 109 pitches over 5 1/3 innings as he struck out five batters.

Diaz aided the pitching effort with three hits and two runs as Atlanta swept the Phillies for the first time since 2007.

"It came at a good time," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "You want to be in the hunt, not out of it."

Philadelphia has struggled with offense since slugger Raul Ibanez suffered a groin injury to be sidelined since June 18.

Slumping Jimmy Rollins managed two hits, ending his career-long hitless streak at 28 at-bats.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by N.Ananthanarayanan)