Franco has go-ahead HR to lead Phillies past Dodgers, 5-4

PHILADELPHIA -- Maikel Franco hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 on Thursday night.

Ryan Howard also homered for Philadelphia, which avoided a three-game series sweep.

Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal went deep for the Dodgers, who began play 1 1/2 games in front of the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

Michael Mariot (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Jerad Eickhoff to earn the victory.

Freddy Galvis led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and Franco followed with his 22nd homer, to deep center off Grant Dayton (0-1) to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead.

Jeanmar Gomez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 32nd save in 35 opportunities.