Brandon Webb was halfway through May and hadn’t lost a game before Wednesday night. So was Shawn Chacon, in an entirely different way.
Chacon went seven innings for his first win, breaking his big league-record streak of nine straight no-decisions to start a season in Houston’s 5-3 win over the Cubs.
Webb, meanwhile, was bidding to become only the third pitcher since World War I to win his first 10 starts, but instead gave up all three runs in Arizona’s 3-1 loss to the Florida Marlins.
“I’m not going to go 33-, 34-0,” Webb said. “It was going to happen sometime. Losing in this manner, to a guy who pitched a great game, is probably a good way for it to happen.”
Carlos Lee’s three-run homer in the third inning helped Chacon (1-0) overcome a rough start and avoid tying the overall record for consecutive starts without a decision – or worse, let his first decision be a loss.
“It feels like I won my first game ever, that’s how long it’s been,” Chacon said of his first win since Aug. 28. “I was pretty happy. But more importantly, we win the series against the first place team and we’ve got some momentum heading into this weekend.”
Houston has quietly won nine of 13 games, and with a series win over the rival Cubs, moved within 1 1/2 games of the lead in the NL Central.
In other NL games Wednesday, it was: San Francisco 3, Colorado 2; Atlanta 11, the New York Mets 4; Philadelphia 12, Washington 2; Milwaukee 4, Pittsburgh 1; the Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Cincinnati 2; and St. Louis 11, San Diego 3.
Webb had been so dominant through his first nine starts that it took a creative squeeze play for the Marlins to finally score off him.
Matt Treanor’s bunt tied it 1-all in the fifth inning, and Cody Ross followed with a homer, sending Florida to its second consecutive win in a matchup of first-place teams. The NL West-leading Diamondbacks came into the series with the best record in the majors, but they have totaled three runs and 10 hits in the first two games against the NL East-leading Marlins.
“We still have a lot to prove,” Luis Gonzalez said. “People are waiting to see if this is a legitimate team, and that’s to be expected. It’s a young team and a tough division.”
Stephen Drew hit his sixth homer for the Diamondbacks, but that’s all the offense they could muster against Ricky Nolasco (3-3) in his best performance since his rookie season in 2006.
The right-hander said he drew extra incentive from facing Webb.
“You go out there and try to match a guy like that inning for inning,” Nolasco said. “You know he’s going to be good, and we’ve just got to try to be better.”
In Houston, Derrek Lee’s two-run homer in the first inning gave Chicago an early lead, and Micah Hoffpauir doubled for his first major league hit before scoring on a double by Geovany Soto that made it 3-0 – and suddenly Chacon appeared headed for the wrong kind of decision.
“He settled down after the first inning,” Lee said. “He really just shut us down.”
Ryan Theriot singled with two outs in the second inning, but was picked off at first. Chacon then retired the next 12 batters, with four strikeouts.
“It was good,” Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. “He deserved it. After the first inning, you can’t pitch better than that.”
Jose Valverde pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save, and has not allowed a run in 17 consecutive appearances for the Astros.
In his first career road start, the Cubs’ Sean Gallagher (1-1) allowed eight hits and five runs with four strikeouts in 4 2-3 innings.
“My execution wasn’t there,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to control myself better.”
Giants 3, Rockies 2
At Denver, Omar Vizquel doubled to start a tying rally in the ninth, then drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly off Matt Herges (2-1) in the 10th.
Brian Wilson struck out Omar Quintanilla for the final out to pick up his 14th save.
Tyler Walker (2-2) got the win after setting down the Rockies in the ninth.
Braves 11, Mets 4
At Atlanta, Jeff Francoeur homered and drove in four runs to back Jair Jurrjens (5-3), who gave up only one earned run in seven innings for his second win over the Mets this season.
Mets starter Mike Pelfrey (2-5) gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings.
Phillies 12, Nationals 2
At Washington, Ryan Howard homered twice, Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also went deep and the Phillies piled up 15 hits and a season-high in runs.
Jamie Moyer (4-3) took the easy victory by throwing six scoreless innings, and Clay Condrey gave up a couple meaningless runs but still got his first save with three innings of work.
Matt Chico (0-6), getting a fill-in start for Shawn Hill (sore elbow), allowed Howard’s RBI double in the first, Feliz’s home run in the second and homers by Victorino and Howard.
Brewers 4, Pirates 1
At Pittsburgh, Ben Sheets (5-1) limited Pittsburgh to one run despite allowing 11 hits in his second complete game, and Rickie Weeks homered and scored twice for Milwaukee.
Weeks hit his sixth homer with two outs in the sixth against Ian Snell (2-3), who is winless in seven starts since April 12. Snell, 0-3 over that span, gave up nine hits and four runs, two earned, over six innings.
Dodgers 5, Reds 2
At Los Angeles, Hiroki Kuroda (2-3) went eight innings and the Dodgers scored four of their runs on a wild pitch, a suicide squeeze, a passed ball and a bad pickoff throw.
Takashi Saito pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save.
Johnny Cueto (2-5) threw 114 pitches over five innings, giving up four runs – two earned.
Cardinals 11, Padres 3
At San Diego, Ryan Ludwick and Troy Glaus both drove in three runs to lead St. Louis.
The last-place Padres lost pitcher Chris Young (4-4) when Albert Pujols lined a shot off his face, breaking his nose and sending blood streaming down the front of his shirt. Two batters later, the Padres lost catcher Josh Bard to a sprained ankle on a play at the plate.
Braden Looper (6-3) allowed three runs on eight hits in five innings for St. Louis.
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