Rollins conjures up first victory for Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Philadelphia Phillies relied on some magic from National League MVP Jimmy Rollins to pull off their first win of the new MLB season on Thursday.

The Phillies lost their first two games to the Washington Nationals and were in extra innings in the final game of the series when Rollins helped secure an 8-7 victory.

He led off the bottom of the 10th with an infield single and then scampered to third base on Shane Victorino's sacrifice bunt. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard were both walked intentionally to load the bases and Washington reliever Jesus Colome walked Jayson Werth on four pitches to surrender the winning run.

"Well, he's the MVP. That's what they do," Rollins' team mate Geoff Jenkins told reporters.

"They do things at special times to help you win games. He's an instinct player. You can't teach that. Jimmy has the 'it' factor."

"If you're only going to win one game of a series, it might as well be the last one as you're getting out of town," said Phillies catcher Chris Coste, who hit a third-inning home run to put his team on the scoreboard.

"It was disappointing to lose the last two games, but this win feels good."

The loss was the first in four games for the Nationals, who surprisingly won their first three games. They opened their new ballpark with a win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday and then won two in a row over the Phillies.

"You can only hold them for so long," said Nationals manager Manny Acta. "We had our chances."

The Nationals built a 6-1 lead before the Phillies scored six runs in the sixth inning. Washington tied the game at 7-7 in the eighth inning.

(Writing by Mike Shalin in Boston; Editing by Peter Rutherford)