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Phillies beat braves to boost playoff hopes

Ryan Howard hit a grand slam in the 10th inning and the Philadelphia Phillies boosted their playoff hopes with a 10-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night. Jimmy Rollins drove in two runs and extended his hitting streak to 26 games as the Phillies pulled within five games of the Braves in the NL East. Philadelphia loaded the bases with no outs in the 10th inning off Kyle Davies. Shane Victorino hit into a forceout at the plate, and the Braves brought in left-hander John Foster to face Howard. That at-bat ended up being Howard`s 19th homer and second grand slam, the first coming on Aug. 10, against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Both the Phillies` and Braves` have 10 games remaining, leaving Atlanta`s magic number for clinching a 14th straight division title at six. The Phillies` best hope for reaching the playoffs is the wild card. They remained two games behind Houston, which won 12-8 at Pittsburgh.