Philadelphia — The Braves could revive Mike Hampton, but they're running out of chances to revive their season.

They couldn't hold a six-run lead in Hampton's first start in almost three years Saturday and lost to the Phillies 10-9.

AP (ENLARGE)

In his first major league start since Aug. 19, 2005, Mike Hampton came within three outs of qualifying for a win. He left in the fifth with the bases loaded and none out.

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They went from up 9-3 after a nine-run fourth inning off Cole Hamels to down 10-9 after a seven-run fifth off Hampton and two relievers.

Hampton's latest ailment? Whiplash.

"This is one we let get away," Hampton said. "And it did in a hurry. It's amazing how quick things can turn. I wish I did a better job in the fifth inning to shut them down, so we could move on."

Hampton loaded the bases on three singles while using up his 90-pitch limit. He watched from the dugout as all three runners scored in five pitches — one from Royce Ring on Ryan Howard's two-run single and four from Blaine Boyer that led to a Pat Burrell sacrifice fly.

On what looked to be Hampton's day, Greg Dobbs soon was tipping his cap in a curtain call after his three-run homer off Boyer put the Phillies ahead.

"I had every one of the guys I faced 0-2 or 1-2, which is just the story of my season so far," said Boyer, who had the inning prolonged on a double past first off the end of Chris Coste's bat. "I was supposed to go in [to Dobbs] and left it over the middle of the plate."

Hampton made it four-plus innings on 91 pitches and was ultimately charged with six runs. He joined Dave Stieb as the only other pitcher since 1961 with at least 250 starts to return after missing two or more full seasons.

"It's been a long-time coming," said Hampton, who said he felt his sinkerball "stuff" was the same as always.

Making his first start since Aug. 19, 2005, he still wasn't immune to what has plagued the Braves all season.

After going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position from the sixth inning on, the Braves lost their 25th consecutive one-run decision on the road.

"It's hard to swallow, up six," Brian McCann said.

The Braves had broken loose for nine runs off Hamels, the Phillies' ace, with their biggest inning of the season. This was the left-hander who had been nearly perfect against the Braves this season, going 2-0 in two starts with an 0.51 ERA.

The Braves batted around with some help from a fielding error by Chase Utley and a throwing error by Hamels. Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer to chase Hamels after 32/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season.

"It would have been a great win," Teixeira said. "Sometimes you need a game like this to keep pushing you. We'll go out and get them tomorrow."

The Braves have to beat the Phillies on Sunday to take two out of three on this trip from both the Marlins and Phillies and have a chance to change to make a good impresssion over the final days leading up to the non-waiver trading deadline, which is Thursday.

"[General manager Frank Wren] is in a tough position trying to piece this team together not just for the next two months but for the next three or four years," Jeff Francoeur said. "I'm glad I'm not a GM. Hopefully we can come out tomorrow and win and make these decisions a little easier for him. Something like today I'm sure doesn't make it that much easier."