Philadelphia's Geoff Jenkins, left, and Pat Burrell wait to greet Matt Stairs after Stairs hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning in Game 4 of the National League championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday. Stairs' blast helped to give the Phillies a 7-5 victory and a 3-1 lead in the series.

LOS ANGELES — Pinch hitter Matt Stairs swung for the fences, as he always does. The result was a towering drive that landed more than halfway up the right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium.

And with that, the Philadelphia Phillies had all the offense they would need to move within one win of the World Series.

Stairs connected off Jonathan Broxton with two outs and a runner on base Monday night, capping a four-run eighth and lifting the Phillies to a 7-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series.

Shane Victorino, who ducked a pitch thrown over his head the previous day, hit a two-run homer off Cory Wade earlier in the inning to tie the game. Broxton relieved Wade after a two-out single by Carlos Ruiz and tried to sneak a 3-1 fastball past the 40-year-old Stairs.

It didn't work.

"It's definitely the top pinch-hit home run of my career," Stairs said.

Lefty ace Cole Hamels, who won the series opener, can pitch the Phillies to their first World Series since 1993 in Game 5 Wednesday night. He'll be opposed by Game 2 loser Chad Billingsley.

Broxton allowed only two homers in 69 innings during the regular season. This one was a no-doubter the moment it left Stairs' bat.

"I fell behind in the count and made a mistake over the plate and he cashed in," said Broxton, the seventh Dodgers pitcher. "He's a home run hitter. You've got to wipe it out and get ready to play them again."

Stairs has played for 11 teams, including the Pirates, in his career. Philadelphia picked him up from Toronto on Aug. 30.

"My whole career, even back in the early days, my approach was try to hit the ball out of the ballpark," he said. "And it's something I enjoyed doing. In batting practice, I try to hit every ball out of the ballpark. I'm not going to lie, it's fun. I try to hit home runs and that's it. I'm not going to hit a single and steal second base. So I think the biggest thing is to get up there, swing hard and elevate."

Brad Lidge got his first four-out save for the Phillies, remaining perfect this season. It was the first time the visiting team has won a game in 12 meetings between the clubs this year.

"This was the biggest game we've won so far," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "But the next one is even bigger. That's kind of how we look at it."