Philadelphia Phillies (69-80) at San Diego Padres (68-80), 10:10 p.m. (ET)

(SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of clubs playing out the string tangle Monday in the first of three straight games, as the Philadelphia Phillies pay a visit to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

The Phillies are last in the National League East and the Padres sit third in the NL West, 16 1/2 games off the pace.

Philadelphia will begin its final road trip of the season (10 games) and is slated to visit Oakland and Miami as well. The Phillies were aiming for a three-game sweep of the Marlins and sustained a 5-4 loss after closer Jonathan Papelbon blew his fourth save of the season.

Papelbon was hammered for four runs in the top of the ninth, squandering a 4-1 lead with four runs and four hits allowed. Papelbon was then ejected by umpire Joe West for what he thought was an obscene gesture toward a booing crowd as the fiery right-hander approached the dugout.

A visibly upset Papelbon then ran onto the field to protest with West, who grabbed the closer's jersey and pulled him away.

"He basically came over and said that I did an inappropriate gesture, and I had no clue what he was talking about," Papelbon said. "That is when I got upset. I had no idea what he was talking about. I had no explanation. I was still obviously pretty heated from what had just transpired. Me and Joe we go way back. We don't see eye to eye a lot of times."

Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz and Maikel Franco each drove in a run, while Ben Revere and Ryan Howard had two hits apiece for the Phillies, who finished 3-4 on a seven-game homestand and have lost five of eight games overall.

David Buchanan was in line for the win and delivered 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in the start.

Taking the ball for the Phils in San Diego tonight will be Jerome Williams. Williams has a 3-1 mark with a 3.44 earned run average in six starts with the Phillies and was beaten by Pittsburgh in Wednesday's 6-3 loss, as he yielded four runs in five innings of work.

Williams is 3-2 with a 2.63 ERA in six career starts against the Padres.

San Diego will begin its final homestand of the season -- 10 games versus Philadelphia, San Francisco and Colorado -- and finished a nine-game road trip (2-7) with back-to-back losses to Arizona.

Rookie starting pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne fell to 3-7 after a promising start to his career and gave up five runs -- three earned -- in 5 2/3 innings.

Yangervis Solarte and Jake Goebbert had two hits apiece for the Padres.

"This is a learning experience for so many players and we're seeing this first-hand in September," Padres manager Bud Black said. "In the long run, they'll be better off for it. Experience is the best teacher. They are profiting from this experience."

Andrew Cashner is going through a learning experience of his own and gets the ball Monday for the Friars. Cashner is just 3-7 with a 2.40 ERA and prevailed his last time out in a 6-3 win at Los Angeles, where he held the Dodgers to two runs in seven innings for his first win since April 16 versus Colorado.

Cashner was 0-6 in his previous 11 appearances. In seven career games (1 start) against Philadelphia, Cashner is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA.

The Phillies swept a three-game series versus the Padres in June and have won five straight and seven of the last eight matchups between the ballclubs.