It’s been a long way back for Ryan Howard from the Achilles injury he suffered in the last game of the Phillies’ division series loss to the Cardinals last year.

He’s been on a rehab assignment and in the third game of said assignment, he hit his first home run since 2011. John Finger:

Howard lined a 3-1 pitch from the Yankees’ John Maine onto the berm of grass beyond the fence in left-center field for his first home run in his sixth game of his minor-league rehab stint. An inning later, Howard laced a first-pitch single off the glove of first baseman Francisco Cervelli with the bases loaded to drive in two more runs.

After Howard’s 2-for-3 effort with four RBIs in a 6-5 victory for the IronPigs and a crisp seven innings at first base, Sandberg gave Howard an early start to his Fourth of July day off. Following his short holiday, Howard will return to action on Thursday and Friday where he will play first base and then he should be ready to rejoin the Phillies.

The question, though, is whether the Phillies will be too far out of contention for Howard’s return to help them. They’ll have a couple of weeks before they have to go into sell mode, if that’s what they decide.

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