ATLANTA (AP) -- Aaron Rowand homered for the first time since coming over to the Philadelphia Phillies. He was more excited about a defensive play.
Rowand hit a two-run homer, Pat Burrell also homered and the Phillies won for only the second time this season, beating the Atlanta Braves 7-5 Wednesday night.
Rowand was in on a number of key plays.
His blistering grounder in the second was booted by Atlanta shortstop Edgar Renteria, letting in two unearned runs. In the bottom half of the inning, Rowand fielded a ball off the wall and hit the cutoff man, who threw out Brian McCann at the plate for the third out.
Then, in the seventh, Rowand gave the Phillies a 6-3 lead with his first NL homer, a towering shot down the left-field line.
"It was great to get it out of the way," said Rowand, acquired from the Chicago White Sox during the offseason in the Jim Thome trade.
The center fielder was more fired up about the play on McCann. He played Wilson Betemit's double off the wall and threw to shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who easily gunned down the slow-running McCann trying to score all the way from first.
"It was huge," Rowand said. "Defensive plays are momentum-swingers. It was a big play at the time, and it turned out to be a bigger play."
Added winning pitcher Cory Lidle: "I'm just glad that McCann was the baserunner."
The Phillies, who lost six of their first seven games, jumped ahead 4-0 in the second inning and held on at end.
Betemit, filling in for injured third baseman Chipper Jones, had three doubles, including a two-out liner down the left-field line that brought home two runs and the tying run to the plate in the eighth. But Arthur Rhodes struck out pinch-hitter Matt Diaz to end the threat.
Tom Gordon, signed to replace Billy Wagner, pitched a perfect ninth for his first save with the Phillies. Lidle (1-0) scattered 10 hits in six innings and scored a run after drawing a walk.
The Phillies went ahead in the second on Mike Lieberthal's two-run double off Jorge Sosa (0-2). Two more runs scored in the inning when Renteria failed to come up with Rowand's grounder, which should have been the third out but instead deflected into center field.
McCann led the Braves back. The 22-year-old catcher had an RBI single in the second -- before getting thrown out at the plate -- and a solo homer with two outs in the fourth.
Atlanta wasn't done after McCann's third homer of the season. Betemit doubled down the right-field line and came home on Pete Orr's pinch-hit triple to the gap in left-center field. But Lidle didn't give up the lead, fanning Marcus Giles to end the inning.
Philadelphia extended its lead in the seventh against Chuck James, who to that point had pitched eight scoreless innings on the season -- giving up only one hit. The rookie left a changeup over the plate to Rowand.
"He hit it. Hard," James said. "It's going to happen every now and then."
Two batters later, Burrell drove a fastball into the seats in left-center for his third homer of the year.
"I missed a spot, and he hit that one out, too," James said.
Sosa went four innings, an improvement on the 2 1-3 innings he lasted in his first start. He's only one loss shy of his total for all of 2005, when he went a surprising 13-3.
"He threw the ball OK," McCann said. "In the second inning, he wasn't hitting his locations like he wanted to. But he should be fine."
Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins had two more hits and scored a run. He's hit safely in five straight games since his 38-game streak ended last week, going 10-of-21 during that span.
The Braves outhit the Phillies 14-8.
Notes: Jeff Francoeur went hitless in his first three at-bats, including two strikeouts, to drop his average to .056 (2-for-36). He raised it to .081 with a single to right in the eighth, scoring on Betemit's double with a headfirst slide across the plate. Francoeur had a big smile as he pulled himself up. "I haven't done much running in these nine games," he said. "It felt good -- anything to get me going." ... Lidle was the first Philadelphia starter to earn a win in 2006. ... Australian reliever Peter Moylan made his major league debut for the Braves with a scoreless eighth. He gave up a double to David Bell but struck out David Dellucci to end the inning. ... Gordon picked up his first NL save since 2001, when he had 27 for the Chicago Cubs.