Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Chase Utley and Pat Burrell each hit a homer in the sixth inning, as the Philadelphia Phillies came back to edge the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2, in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

Cole Hamels (2-0) gave up a run in the first inning, but settled down to throw seven solid frames. The left-hander gave up two runs on six hits and a pair of walks, and struck out eight for the Phillies, who are making their first NLCS appearance since 1993.

Utley, Burrell and Carlos Ruiz each notched a pair of hits for Philadelphia, which reached the NLCS after beating Milwaukee in four games in the Division Series. Brad Lidge was perfect in the ninth to earn the save, his 44th in as many opportunities this season.

Derek Lowe (1-1) shut down the Phillies early, but came undone in the sixth inning to eventually take the loss. He allowed both homers for three runs -- two earned -- as well as six hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings, with two strikeouts. Lowe had given up just 14 homers in 34 starts during the regular season.

Manny Ramirez collected two hits and a run batted in for the Dodgers, who are in their first NLCS since 1988 after sweeping the Cubs in the NLDS.

"I thought we made the most out of every opportunity we had," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "We did a lot of things right. Unfortunately, we came up on the short end...This ball club has come to play every day. It's been really rewarding for me to be in that clubhouse and see how comfortable I am with their personality. Tomorrow will be the first game (in the playoffs) we're going after somebody after we lose. And I think I'll get a sense tomorrow if I feel anything different, but my sense is I won't."

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Friday back at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies entered the bottom of the sixth trailing by two runs, as Lowe was masterful through the first five frames. He saw just one runner reach second base in that span.

In the first at-bat of the sixth, though, Shane Victorino hit a grounder to shortstop. Rafael Furcal's throw was high, hit off first baseman James Loney's glove and sailed into foul territory.

Victorino went to second base on the play, and Utley followed by blasting a pitch into the right-center field stands to tie the game.

"At that point I was trying to get (Victorino) over, no matter what, I was getting him over to third base," Utley said of his approach to the at-bat. "(I) squared a sinker up and it went over the fence. For Derek Lowe it was up, but it really wasn't that bad of a pitch...He was keeping the ball down. He had a great sinker working and slider. Everything was down in the zone. Borderline kind of balls and he makes it tough on the opposing hitters. The pitch I hit was probably middle of the zone in terms of height."

Lowe got Ryan Howard to ground out, but Burrell got inside a Lowe offering and sent it into the left field seats to give the Phillies a 3-2 edge. Lowe was removed for Chan Ho Park, who managed to get out of the inning without further damage.

Hamels worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out two, and then handed the game over to the Philadelphia bullpen. Ryan Madson faced the heart of the Dodgers' lineup, but struck out Andre Ethier and got Ramirez to line out to third. After Russell Martin singled, Loney grounded out to end the threat. Lidge entered in the ninth and got two fly outs before striking out Blake DeWitt to end the game.

Before Hamels settled into a groove, he faced trouble in the first inning. Ethier hit a one-out double to the left-center gap, and Ramirez then crushed a pitch the same way. However, the ball hit off the highest part of the outfield fence and bounced back into play for a double. The hit plated Ethier for a 1-0 LA lead.

"I guess that's the furthest ball anybody can hit. And for it not to be out of the yard," Hamels said. "But I'm just lucky enough it didn't go out, because it definitely helped out and definitely put us in a better favor than down 2-0 instead of 1-0."

Hamels struck out Martin before walking Loney, and both runners advanced into scoring position on a passed ball. However, Hamels ended the frame by getting Matt Kemp to fly out.

The Dodgers tacked on another run in the fourth. Kemp hit a fair fly ball down the right field line that bounced out of play for a ground-rule double. He moved to third on a grounder before DeWitt drove him home with a sacrifice fly.

Prior to the sixth, the Phillies' major scoring opportunity came in the fifth. Ruiz and Hamels hit back-to-back, two-out singles, but Rollins flied out to end the threat.

Game Notes

This is the fourth time these clubs have met in the NLCS. The Dodgers won in 1977 and '78, while the Phillies came out on top in 1983...The clubs split the regular-season series, 4-4, with each team winning four games at home...Burrell has hit three homers this postseason...Howard finished 0- for-4...Utley had just two homers in his past 38 games entering Thursday's contest...Lowe induced 12 groundouts to two flyouts...Greg Maddux and Hong- Chih Kuo each threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Dodgers...The left- handed Kuo was added to the NLCS roster after missing the NLDS against Chicago. He had been sidelined since September 14 with soreness in his triceps...Los Angeles left former closer Takashi Saito off their 25-player roster for the NLCS.

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