One huge swing by Carlos Beltran helped the Mets increase their lead in the NL East. The Diamondbacks padded their advantage in the West by outplaying the nose-diving Dodgers.
Beltran hit a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning off Kevin Gregg, and New York’s shaky bullpen held on for a 5-4 win over the Florida Marlins on Friday night at Miami.
At Arizona, Stephen Drew, Adam Dunn and Conor Jackson each drove in two runs and the Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers 9-3, dropping Los Angeles 4 1/2 games back in the NL West.
Beltran came through with the big hit that had eluded the Mets all night.
Before Beltran’s homer, the Mets were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Trailing 2-1, they left the bases loaded in the seventh and stranded two in the eighth.
“We didn’t score early, but we scored when the team needed it the most,” Beltran said.
Manny Ramirez had four hits for the Dodgers, who lost their eighth straight – all on a 10-game road trip that mercifully ends this weekend.
“We need to find a way to get this stuff straightened out,” Los Angeles manager Joe Torre said. “There’s still plenty of time left. Right now, the last couple of weeks have been ugly.”
In other NL games on Friday, it was: Chicago 3, Philadelphia 2; Milwaukee 3, Pittsburgh 1; Cincinnati 11, San Francisco 7; Washington 7, Atlanta 3; Houston 3, St. Louis 2; and Colorado 9, San Diego 4.
Gregg (6-8) retired the first two batters in the ninth, and New York was down to its final strike when Luis Castillo singled on a 1-2 pitch. David Wright also singled, and Carlos Delgado was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Beltran.
“I wasn’t looking for anything in particular,” Beltran said. “I was thinking, ‘I just need to come through right here and at least tie the game.”’
Gregg’s first pitch was a hanging splitter, and Beltran pulled it over the right-field wall for his 20th homer.
“I knew it was going to be gone, and I was happy because this is a team we really need to beat,” Beltran said.
The grand slam left the third-place Marlins reeling. They’ve been fading in the NL East and fell seven games behind the Mets, who increased their lead over second-place Philadelphia to two games.
“Our backs are against the wall,” Florida outfielder Cody Ross said. “We’ve got to win. We’ve got to start tomorrow.”
The Diamondbacks are closing in on their fifth division title in 11 seasons. They’ll send aces Dan Haren and Brandon Webb against the Dodgers in the next two games.
“It’s good to know that we’re going to be in first place no matter what happens” in the next two games, Arizona starter Doug Davis (6-8) said. “With Haren and ‘Webby’ going the next two days, we have a chance of being up six (and a half) games pretty easy. It’s looking good.”
Down 2-1 in the fifth, the Diamondbacks took advantage of a throwing error by Nomar Garciaparra, scoring three times to give Davis his second victory since July 30. Garciaparra also made a fielding error that led to another run in the seventh.
Arizona and Los Angeles have been dueling for control of the NL West, and lately neither has appeared capable of winning the race.
The Dodgers had mustered 12 runs in the first seven games of their road trip. Desperate to bolster his attack, Torre put catcher Russell Martin in the leadoff spot for the first time this year and moved Ramirez up one slot, to third.
It didn’t make much difference. As they have all year, the Dodgers struggled to produce with runners in scoring position.
Los Angeles loaded the bases in the first on a double by Andre Ethier and walks to Ramirez and Matt Kemp. But James Loney grounded to shortstop to end the threat.
Asked if the Dodgers were tight, Loney said, “I don’t know. I can’t answer for everybody. Guys are playing hard.”
Cubs 3, Phillies 2
At Chicago, Alfonso Soriano hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning, and the Cubs beat Philadelphia for their seventh straight win.
Soriano’s first homer in 15 days and 23rd of the season came off Clay Condrey (3-4). Chicago made the most of four hits and improved to a major league-best 85-50, including 51-19 at Wrigley Field.
Brewers 3, Pirates 1
At Pittsburgh, Ryan Braun hit a three-run home run, and Milwaukee handed the Pirates their eighth straight loss.
Dave Bush (9-9) allowed one run in 6 2-3 innings for Milwaukee, which expanded its lead to 4 1/2 games over St. Louis in the NL wild-card race.
Astros 3, Cardinals 2
At Houston, Lance Berkman hit a game-ending solo home run off former teammate Russ Springer to lift the Astros.
Berkman’s 27th homer on a 2-1 pitch from Springer (2-1) hit off the facade in left field, and fireworks exploded while he rounded the bases. The Astros raced out of the dugout, and Berkman flipped his helmet in the air as he leaped onto home plate.
Reds 11, Giants 7
At Cincinnati, Edwin Encarnacion hit his second career grand slam off Barry Zito, and Chris Dickerson homered and drove in four runs to help Cincinnati to just its ninth win in the past 32 games.
Nationals 7, Braves 3
At Washington, Lastings Milledge and Ryan Zimmerman both drove in two runs and Washington beat Atlanta for a season-high fourth straight win.
Rockies 9, Padres 4
At San Diego, Garrett Atkins hit two home runs and had a season-high five RBIs to lead Colorado to its 10th win in 13 games and snap San Diego’s three-game winning streak.
The defending NL champion Rockies are trying to position themselves for another late-season playoff run, trailing Arizona by six games in the NL West with 26 games left. They won 14 of their last 15 in the regular season last year to make the playoffs.
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