Lieber, Sosa, Shields lead Cubs past Giants
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs won their 15th straight Wrigley Field game started by Jon Lieber, beating the San Francisco Giants 2-1 Thursday as Sammy Sosa homered and Delino DeShields hit a go-ahead grounder.
Lieber (3-0) is 14-0 at Wrigley since he was beaten by Arizona's Randy Johnson last May 18. In his first appearance since missing a scheduled start on April 20 because of elbow soreness, he allowed one run and six hits in eight innings and walked one.
Pirates 3, Dodgers 2
PITTSBURGH -- Brian Giles hit a two-run single against a wild Hideo Nomo (2-3), who limited Pittsburgh to three hits in six innings but walked five and a hit batter.
Josh Fogg (3-0), the first Pirates rookie to win his first three starts since Tim Wakefield won four in a row in 1992, struck out seven and gave up one run -- unearned -- and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings.
Mike Williams pitched the ninth for his NL-high ninth save. The Pirates assured themselves of their first winning April in eight years with their seventh victory in nine games.
Padres 6, Phillies 4
PHILADELPHIA -- Mark Kotsay homered and hit a two-run triple as San Diego overcame a 3-1 deficit in the seventh with four runs off starter Vicente Padilla and Rheal Cormier (1-2).
Philadelphia has lost 10 of 13, including five games in which the bullpen failed to hold a lead.
Expos 5, Brewers 1
MONTREAL -- Lee Stevens, Chris Truby and Jose Vidro homered as Montreal stretched a winning streak to six for the first time since May 31-June 5, 2000.
A season-low crowd of 3,501 was on hand at Olympic Stadium as the Montreal Canadiens played Boston in a first-round NHL playoff game at the Molson Centre.
Stevens, who hit a solo shot in Wednesday's 5-4, 15-inning win, hit a two-run homer off Ruben Quevedo (1-2) in the first.
Tony Armas Jr. (3-2) allowed one run, three hits and four walks in six-plus innings and struck out nine. Graeme Lloyd got six outs for his fourth save.
Marlins 5, Astros 4
MIAMI -- A.J. Burnett (3-2) struck out nine in seven innings, allowing three runs and five hits, and Kevin Millar hit a tiebreaking solo home run off Shane Reynolds (2-3) in the seventh.
Braden Looper allowed one run in 1 2-3 innings, and Vladimir Nunez retired Richard Hidalgo with the tying run at second for his second save, completing a six-hitter. The game drew 5,367.
Diamondbacks 11, Braves 5
ATLANTA -- Greg Maddux surrendered a career-high 10 runs in 4 2-3 innings. Damian Miller drove in four runs as the Diamondbacks took two of three from the Braves in a rematch of last year's NL championship series.
Maddux (2-1), bothered this season by a sore back, was knocked out during a horrendous fifth, in which he gave up eight runs -- a career high for an inning -- and four walks.
Rick Helling (3-2) gave up two runs in six innings for Arizona, which has won eight of its last nine at Turner Field.
Mets 7, Cardinals 6
NEW YORK -- Pinch-hitter Mark Johnson connected against Dave Veres (2-2) for a tiebreaking home run in the eighth -- the Mets' first home run in 301 at-bats since April 15.
New York scored five runs in the fifth to rally from a 5-1 deficit and take two of three from St. Louis, which lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
Scott Strickland (2-1) retired five straight batters to get the win and Armando Benitez pitched the ninth for his sixth save.
Reds 4, Rockies 3
CINCINNATI -- Third baseman Todd Zeile bounced a throw into Cincinnati's dugout, letting the go-ahead run score in the eighth inning as the Reds completed a three-game sweep.
The Rockies were swept at Cinergy Field for the first time since 1993, when they went 0-7 there in their inaugural year.
Cincinnati scored the go-ahead run without benefit of a hit off Rick White (0-1), who walked Walker and threw a wild pitch before Ruben Mateo's grounder to Zeile.