Damion Easley twisted away from an inside pitch and backed away from the plate to give his sore left leg a brief rest. The New York Mets second baseman felt much better moments later.
Easley hit a two-out homer in the eighth inning to send the Mets to their seventh straight win, a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
“At that moment, I was just trying to go back up the middle and extend the inning,” Easley said of his drive to left-center on a 3-2 pitch from reliever Taylor Buchholz (3-3).
New York allowed three hits for the fourth consecutive game, the first time that’s happened in franchise history.
Jayson Werth sent the Philadelphia Phillies to another win, hitting a game-ending RBI single in the 12th inning of a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I was happy to get the hit and get us out of here,” said Werth, who was 3-for-7.
Shane Victorino also had three hits for the Phillies, who have won three straight. Victorino tied it at 5 with a two-run triple off Tony Pena in the eighth inning.
In other NL games, it was: Chicago Cubs 3, San Francisco 1; San Diego 4, Atlanta 0; St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 0; Florida 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 1; Cincinnati 6, Milwaukee 5; and Washington 10, Houston 0.
At New York, Pedro Feliciano (2-2) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and Billy Wagner had a perfect ninth for his 21st save in 27 chances.
The Rockies were left lamenting their many missed opportunities. They loaded the bases in the sixth, seventh and eighth as Mets pitchers struggled with control, walking seven of the nine batters who reached base. But Colorado couldn’t get any runs out of it.
The Mets remained 1 1/2 games behind the NL East-leading Phillies, who won again despite leaving 16 runners on base.
So Taguchi led off the 12th with a single to left. Chris Coste then sacrificed him to second and Connor Robertson (0-1) intentionally walked Jimmy Rollins to get to Werth, who singled to center.
Rudy Seanez (4-3) pitched a scoreless 12th to earn the win.
Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 28th home run for the Phillies, extending his hitting streak to a season-high 14 games with a drive to left-center off Doug Davis in the second inning. He has four homers in his past three games and eight in his past 10.
Cubs 3, Giants 1
Aramis Ramirez broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the eighth inning for Chicago.
Shut down by starter Matt Cain for seven innings, the Cubs struck quickly against his replacement and held off a ninth-inning rally to send the Giants to their fifth straight loss.
Ryan Theriot led off the Cubs’ eighth with a single off Tyler Walker and was sacrificed to second. Walker (3-5) intentionally walked Derrek Lee before Ramirez hit his 17th homer.
Bob Howry (3-2) pitched a perfect eighth at Wrigley Field and Kerry Wood worked the ninth for his 24th save.
Padres 4, Braves 0
Scott Hairston had a double and a triple to back San Diego’s Jake Peavy.
Hairston is 17-for-34 (.500) with six doubles, five homers, nine RBIs and nine runs scored in his past 11 games since June 25.
Peavy (7-5), the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, held Atlanta to four hits and struck out seven in seven innings. Peavy lowered his home ERA to 1.45, the lowest in the NL and second-lowest in the majors.
Jo-Jo Reyes (3-8) lost his fourth straight decision.
Cardinals 6, Pirates 0
Kyle Lohse limited Pittsburgh to six hits over seven innings and Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick homered for visiting St. Louis.
Lohse (11-2) won his eighth in a row by limiting the Pirates to one extra-base hit.
Ankiel’s two-run drive followed Yadier Molina’s two-run double and finished off a decisive four-run third inning, with all the scoring occurring after Zach Duke (4-6) retired the first two batters.
Marlins 3, Dodgers 1
Chris Volstad came within one out of a shutout in his first major league start and Florida’s Jeremy Hermida and Jorge Cantu hit back-to-back homers in the first inning.
Volstad (2-0) became the sixth pitcher since 1971 to get a victory as a starter and as a reliever in his first two big league appearances, joining teammate Doug Waechter, who did it with Tampa Bay in 2003.
The 21-year-old Volstad took a three-hitter into the ninth before giving up a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Delwyn Young, who advanced on a one-out grounder and scored when Russell Martin singled up the middle.
The visiting Marlins scored all of their runs against Eric Stults (2-2) after just 12 pitches by the left-hander.
Reds 6, Brewers 5
At Milwaukee, Jay Bruce scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning on the third wild pitch by the Brewers.
Edwin Encarnacion hit a ground-rule double off Brian Shouse (3-1) to start the inning, and advanced when Bruce reached on a throwing error by third baseman Bill Hall. Solomon Torres relieved and walked David Ross. Pinch-hitter Adam Dunn hit into a fielder’s choice, and Bruce scored on a wild pitch.
Mike Lincoln (1-2) got the win and Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 19th save.
Nationals 10, Astros 0
Ronnie Belliard homered twice and drove in five runs and Tim Redding finally got a victory after nine consecutive no-decisions for Washington.
Redding (7-3) allowed seven singles, walked none and struck out six in six innings. Austin Kearns homered for the host Nationals, who had lost seven of eight.
Houston starter Roy Oswalt left with a strained left hip after throwing 17 pitches during a scoreless first inning.
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