Padres confident they can start winning streak

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres tied their season-high, six-game losing streak when they were swept by the Phillies at Petco Park on Sunday, losing, 5-3.

San Diego battled against one of the better performances from Phillies pitcher Jerome Williams, who went seven innings for the first time this season, allowing five hits and one run, while striking out three.

"He [Williams] was great today. He pitched on the edges, he changed speeds." Padres interim manager Pat Murphy said. "He apparently pitched really good his last outing against the Dodgers and he's found something, because he was very good today. Just like their whole team -- the hottest team in baseball."

As Murphy pointed out before Sunday's game, the struggle to stay consistent has been an issue the team has faced all year.

"It's frustrating to be where we are at. But we got 50 games left so we just got to keep grinding and keep going," Matt Kemp said. "We have to start now. We can't waste any more time, we can't say we need to do something, we just need to come out there and do it. Win games and get it done."

Justin Upton hit his first homer since July 30, blasting a long ball to left field in the sixth inning. San Diego scored two runs late in the game, on an Alexi Amarista RBI single in the eighth and Will Venable's RBI single in the ninth.

Video: PHI@SD: J. Upton belts a solo shot to the second deck

The Padres had nine hits and stranded seven runners. They had a chance to tie the game in the fifth inning with runners on first and second with two outs, but Amarista lined out to Ryan Howard.

"We had the tying run at the plate how many days in a row? It's not like we're that far off. It's just we're not getting things going our way," Murphy said. "That's Major League Baseball. I'm waiting for an easy team to come to town. It hasn't happened for me yet."

In the seventh inning, Derek Norris hit a ball deep to left field, but Cody Asche made a leaping catch against the wall to rob Norris of a homer.

Video: PHI@SD: Asche leaps to rob Norris of a home run 

"When you're going through a rut like this, when you get a home run robbed and a line drive caught, to flip that is going to take something -- a bounce that goes your way, whatever." Murphy said. "We might have to play our best game to get out of this. Then we'll see what happens. I think our team is capable of doing some things. We have some deficiencies … but we're pretty excited with six teams ago."

On the upside for the Padres, their last six-game losing streak occurred before the All-Star break, but they bounced back, going 13-5 coming out of the break.

"We had a six-game streak ... and all the sudden we caught fire," Murphy said. "We walked in Milwaukee and boom, blew them out the first night, feeling pretty good about ourselves and I could see the fatigue setting in. But those guys want to continue to play."