Pirates notch rare sweep of Cardinals
PITTSBURGH Pinch-hitter Bobby Hill singled home the winning run in the ninth and Tike Redman had three RBIs to lead the Pirates over St. Louis 6-5 victory to complete their first home three-game sweep of the Cardinals in 15 years.
Jose Mesa (2-0) blew his first save opportunity in 18 chances but got his second victory of the series, while Julian Tavarez (2-2) took his second loss in three days. Pittsburgh has won a season-high five straight games.
Astros 3, Cubs 2
CHICAGO In his fifth game since Houston acquired him from Kansas City, Carlos Beltran homered off LaTroy Hawkins (1-1) with two outs in the ninth.
Roger Clemens' bid for his 11th victory was blown by Dan Miceli, who allowed Michael Barrett's eighth-inning homer, which tied it 2-all. Brad Lidge (2-3), who worked out of a bases-loaded jam after the Cubs tied the score in the eighth, got the final six outs.
Expos 6, Phillies 3
PHILADELPHIA Juan Rivera hit a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Expos overcame Jim Thome's major league-leading 27th homer.
Tony Batista and Brad Wilkerson homered for Montreal, which was 0-37 when trailing after seven innings dating to Sept. 16, 2003.
The Phillies scored 31 runs and rallied for wins in the first two games of the series, but the Expos had a four-run eighth inning against Tim Worrell (2-3) for a rare comeback of their own.
Reds 2, Mets 0
CINCINNATI Cory Lidle topped stingy Tom Glavine and shut down the Mets for the second time in a week for the Reds.
Adam Dunn homered and Ryan Freel hit an RBI single off Glavine (7-5), whose 2.16 ERA run average is by far the best in the majors.
The Reds snapped a three-game losing streak behind Lidle (6-5), who has beaten his former team in each of his last two starts. The right-hander gave up three singles in seven shutout innings.
Braves 9, Marlins 6
ATLANTA J.D. Drew homered twice and Sam McConnell earned his first major league win to lead the Braves.
The game was delayed by rain for 75 minutes in the second inning, and rain fell throughout most of the rest of it. On Tuesday night, the teams waited out a 3 1/2-hour delay before the start, and the game ended at 1:24 a.m.
Braves 9, Marlins 6
ATLANTA J.D. Drew homered twice and Sam McConnell earned his first major league win to lead the Braves.
The game was delayed by rain for 75 minutes in the second inning, and rain fell throughout most of the rest of it. On Tuesday night, the teams waited out a 3 1/2-hour delay before the start, and the game ended at 1:24 a.m.
Brewers 5, Rockies 4
DENVER Ben Sheets struck out eight in seven-plus innings and Junior Spivey homered, helping the Brewers to their fourth straight victory.
Chad Moeller added three hits and drove in a run for Milwaukee, on its longest winning streak since taking 10 straight last August.
Todd Helton ended Colorado's six-game homerless streak at Coors Field with his 14th of the year, but the Rockies couldn't get much off Sheets (7-5) after a three-run fourth inning. Larry Walker had his 2,000th career hit and Jeromy Burnitz had three hits and drove in two runs for Colorado, which has lost four straight and six of nine.
Diamondbacks 8, Padres 5
PHOENIX Danny Bautista hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning, and the Diamondbacks stopped their franchise-record losing streak at 11 games.
Chad Tracy had a three-run homer, Quinton McCracken hit a two-run drive and Luis Gonzalez a run-scoring double as Arizona rebounded from one-run deficits three times for its first victory since beating the New York Yankees 6-1 on June 17.
Giants 7, Dodgers 1
LOS ANGELES Barry Bonds hit a three-run homer for his 1,300th career extra-base hit, Brett Tomko came within two outs of his first major league shutout for the Giants.
A.J. Pierzynski went 4-for-4 with a two-run double, helping the first-place Giants increase their lead over San Diego in the NL West to 2 1/2 games. The Dodgers dropped 3 1/2 games back.
Ray Durham and former Dodger Marquis Grissom also homered off Hideo Nomo (3-10), who has given up 16 homers this season, the most by a Dodgers pitcher.
Tomko (3-4), in his second start since coming off the disabled list, allowed one run and seven hits, struck out six and walked two in 8 1-3 innings. He gave up three singles in the ninth, including Milton Bradley's run-scoring hit up the middle on Tomko's 118th and final pitch.