Victorino, a Maui native, hit a game-ending homer in the ninth inning, and Ryan Howard's three-run shot helped the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 9-8 today.

With the score tied and one out, Victorino drove a 1-0 pitch from Kevin Correia (1-2) over the left-field fence for the first game-winning homer of his career.

Before the first pitch, children 14 and under in the crowd of 39,293 received a hula figurine of Victorino.

"Pretty ironic, isn't it?" said Victorino, who was born in Hawaii. "In the dugout, Wes Helms was saying it would be something if I won the game on the day my bobblehead was given out. It's funny how it happened. I got a good pitch and drove it out."

Correia said Victorino simply hit a good pitch.

"It was a fastball, a strike pretty much on the outside corner," the reliever explained.

The Giants made it 8-all in the top of the ninth on Kevin Frandsen's RBI single off Antonio Alfonseca (3-1) after Fred Lewis and Ryan Klesko walked against Ryan Madson. Alfonseca avoided further damage by getting Bengie Molina to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Howard's 10th homer, off left-hander Jack Taschner, highlighted a five-run seventh that gave the Phillies (28-28) an 8-7 lead.

"I'm still trying to get comfortable," Howard said. "I'm feeling better every day."

Helms' two-run double pulled Philadelphia to 7-5.

Chase Utley and Aaron Rowand homered earlier for the Phillies.

"It was big to get the win today," Rowand said. "Shane came through in a big way. He's been hitting the ball well and he came through. Hopefully, we can continue this momentum."

Molina had three hits for the Giants, including a solo home run and a double. Randy Winn also connected.

"Obviously, it's a tough loss," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "In this place, there's no safe lead."

Barry Bonds was rested before entering as a pinch-hitter in the eighth and grounding out against Madson. Bonds has 746 home runs, nine shy of tying Hank Aaron's career record.

In his sixth career start for San Francisco, Tim Lincecum gave up seven hits and six runs in 6 2-3 innings. Lincecum entered 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA.

Klesko's two-run single off Freddy Garcia keyed a three-run fifth that gave the Giants a 5-3 lead. Before Klesko's hit, San Francisco tied the score at 3 on a bizarre play. With Omar Vizquel at second and Winn at first, Lewis hit a single to left. But the ball slipped out of Pat Burrell's hand when he tried to make the throw home, allowing Vizquel, who initially stopped at third, to score on the error.

Vizquel added an RBI infield single in the sixth, and another run scored on Mike Zagurski's wild pitch.

Garcia struggled with his command, allowing nine hits and seven runs — six earned — over 5 1-3 innings. Garcia was visibly upset with manager Charlie Manuel for replacing him with Zagurski.

Philadelphia scored three times in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Utley began the inning with a home run to left. Later, Rowand hit a two-run shot to left-center to score Burrell, who singled.