Brandon Webb set a personal best with his latest win and is now just one victory from being the National League’s first 20-game winner in three years.
The right-hander pitched seven shutout innings for his career-high and major league-leading 19th victory Thursday night in Arizona’s 4-1 win over San Diego.
The Diamondbacks won for the eighth time in 10 games and maintained their two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the AL West.
“It was a good win,” said Webb (19-4), the NL’s Cy Young winner in 2006. “Pretty much from here on out it’s just so close. We’re trying to win every game for the team. If I clean up on decisions, great, but I’m just trying to go out and get deep into the game, give us a chance to win.”
Boston’s Josh Beckett won 20 games last season, but the NL hasn’t had a 20-game winner since Chris Carpenter of St. Louis, Roy Oswalt of Houston and Dontrelle Willis of Florida in 2005.
Webb, who hasn’t lost since a 5-3 decision at Minnesota on June 22, walked three. It was the sixth straight winning start for Webb and he has eight wins in his last 11 starts. He allowed three hits with eight strikeouts, both tying season bests.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence, especially with the guys hitting out there and playing defense behind me the way they are,” said Webb, who won 18 games last season. “I’ve been able to get down in the zone, low, and get a lot of ground balls and strikeouts.”
In other NL games Thursday, it was: Los Angeles 3, Colorado 1; New York 5, Atlanta 4; Washington 4, Philadelphia 3; Chicago 3, Cincinnati 2; and San Francisco 4, Florida 3.
Tony Clark hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning for Arizona and Connor Jackson had a two-run double in the fifth, both off Chad Reineke (1-1). Jackson’s hit made it 3-0 and Chris Snyder added an RBI single in the eighth.
Brandon Lyon pitched the ninth, allowing Edgar Gonzalez’s two-out RBI single.
“It put a little length between us and L.A.,” Jackson said. “Now’s the time of year we start looking, when we start following other teams and looking at the scoreboard. We need to take care of business.”
San Diego’s Brian Giles had a leadoff single in the fourth and Adrian Gonzalez walked. Webb struck out Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headley swinging, then Nick Hundley grounded out.
“He gets more people to chase pitches down in the zone, so you just have to be really patient and really selective at what you swing at,” Adrian Gonzalez said.
Reineke, who beat Philadelphia last Saturday in his major league debut, worked six innings, allowing three earned runs and five hits.
Dodgers 3, Rockies 1
Derek Lowe (10-10) allowed one run and four hits over 6 1-3 innings and James Loney homered and had two RBIs as Los Angeles avoided a three-game sweep. The victory gave the Dodgers a 7-3 record on their 10-game homestand and snapped a five-game winning streak for the Rockies.
Jonathan Broxton worked the ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances since taking over the closer’s role last month for the injured Takashi Saito. Jorge De La Rosa (6-7) allowed four hits and two runs, one earned, in six innings.
Mets 5, Braves 4
Carlos Delgado matched his career high with five hits, the last of which was an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth that allowed host New York to complete the three-game sweep.
David Wright had three hits, including his 25th homer, for New York, which has won nine of 10 and increased its NL East lead over Philadelphia to 2 1/2 games.
Luis Ayala (2-8) pitched 1 1-3 shutout innings to earn his first win since he was acquired from the Nationals on Sunday.
Yunel Escobar homered and Brian McCann hit a two-run double for Atlanta, which has lost five straight.
Nationals 4, Phillies 3
Austin Kearns tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth helped visiting Washington snap a 12-game losing streak. The Phillies blew an eighth-inning lead for the third time in nine days.
Ryan Madson (3-2) couldn’t protect the one-run lead Carlos Ruiz gave Philadelphia with a solo homer in the seventh.
Jesus Flores’ RBI single tied it at 3 and Kearns’ single gave the lead to the Nationals, who won for the first time since a doubleheader sweep of Colorado on Aug. 7.
Saul Rivera (4-5) allowed two runs in one inning, but earned the win. Joel Hanrahan pitched out of trouble in the eighth and ninth to record his fourth save.
Cubs 3, Reds 2
Carlos Zambrano earned his 13th victory and hit his fourth home run to lead host Chicago. Zambrano (13-5) allowed a run and six hits in seven innings and improved his record against the Reds to 4-0 this season and 14-9 for his career.
Zambrano’s homer leading off the third against Josh Fogg (2-6) gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead. The victory extended the Cubs’ lead in the NL Central to 5 1/2 games over Milwaukee.
Joey Votto’s 15th homer in the eighth, brought the Reds within 3-2. Kerry Wood worked a perfect ninth for his 26th save.
Giants 4, Marlins 3
Emmanuel Burriss scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning for host San Francisco.
Burriss drew a one-out walk off closer Kevin Gregg (6-6), stole second and took third on a fly out. Pinch-hitter Bengie Molina was intentionally walked, but Gregg’s first pitch to Fred Lewis skipped past catcher John Baker, allowing Burriss to score standing up.
Brian Wilson (2-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for San Francisco, which won for the fourth time in five games.
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